Offstage, Directing the Action: The Physical Dimension of Grossman’s Breakdown Scheme

 

by Andrew Kliman

 

A forthcoming academic paper of mine shows that, contrary to what Henryk Grossman and his followers have consistently claimed, his breakdown tendency and associated phenomena have nothing to do with value or value theory. In his reproduction scheme, the variables have the names of value magnitudes (“surplus-value,” etc.), but this is all value-form, no value substance. The variables’ movements are determined exclusively by movements in physical quantities (of products, means of production, etc.).

A prominent follower of Grossman raised objections (via e-mail) to my demonstrations. He denied that there are any physical (“use-value”) relations implicit in Grossman’s reproduction scheme. He also denied that it is possible to analyze the long-run growth paths of physical variables; because products are continually being discontinued and replaced by other products, physical variables do not have long-run growth paths.

   

The following article is my reply to these objections. Because the latter part of it uses a lot of mathematical symbols, it is being published as a PDF that you can read in the viewer below or by clicking here. 

    Editor’s Note, April 13, 2025. The current version of the PDF, uploaded today, corrects and expands on the original version (available upon request). The changes are minor.