Productive labour: Labour which contributes to the creation of surplus value.
Profits, mass of: Total profits of a particular capitalist. Measured in pounds, dollars and other currency.
Profit, rate of: Ratio of surplus value to capital invested. Measured as a percentage. Denoted as s/(c+v).
Profit share: Proportion of total output of a firm or country that goes in profits, as opposed to wages.
Rate of exploitation: Ratio of surplus value to wages (strictly speaking only the wages of workers who produce commodities should be counted). It can be expressed another way, as the ratio of the time the worker spends producing surplus value for the capitalist, compared to the time he or she spends on producing goods equivalent to his or her living standard. Also called rate of surplus value, that is, the ratio of surplus value to variable capital, and depicted as s/v.
Realisation: Term used by Marx to describe the successful sale of produced commodities so as to achieve a profit.
"Regulation" theorists: French school of economists influenced by Marxism who periodise 20th century capitalism into Fordist and post-Fordist phases.
Relative surplus value: Increase in surplus value obtained when time it takes for workers to produce the equivalent of their own wage is reduced, so causing a greater portion of their working time to go to the capitalist.
Rentier: Old fashioned term describing someone who lives off unearned income such as rent or dividends.
Reserve army of labour: Pool of unemployed workers used by capital to keep down the wages of those with jobs and who are able to be drawn into industry with the periodic expansion of production.
Ricardo, David: Political economist of first decades of 19th century, developed labour theory of value and an important influence on Marx's ideas.
Robinson, Joan: Radical Keynesian economist of middle third of 20th century, broke with neoclassical school but rejected Marx's theory of value.
Samuelson, Paul: Major populariser of the mainstream synthesis of neoclassical and Keynesian ideas through his economic textbook in post-war decades, and adviser to the Kennedy government in the US.
Say's law: Supposed law that holds there cannot be any general overproduction of goods because each time someone sells something someone else buys it.
Schumpeter, Joseph: Austrian economist of first half of 20th century. Supported capitalism but rejected idea that it developed smoothly, coined phrase "creative destruction".
Smith, Adam: Most important political economist of latter part of 1 8th century. Distorted presentations of his ideas now constitute apologies for capitalism, but a critical use of many of his concepts was important to Marx.
Socially necessary labour time: Labour time needed to produce a certain good, using average techniques prevailing throughout economy and working at average intensity of effort. Determines the amount of abstract labour-and therefore value-embodied in a commodity.
Social wage: Term used to describe welfare, health and other benefits supplied through the state which improve workers' living standards.
Solvency: Ability of firms or individuals to pay off all debts providing they have time to turn their own assets into cash.
Srafa, Piero: Cambridge economist who refuted basic contentions of orthodox bourgeois economics, the "neoclassical" marginalist school. His followers tend to base themselves on Ricardo rather than Marx and reject the Marxist theory of the falling rate of profit, and usually see crisis as arising when wages cut into profits. They are often known as "neo-Ricardians", although Sraffa regarded himself as in the Marxist tradition.
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Glossary