| Human labor can be divided into productive and unproductive labor,which is the most basic form in society.Adam Smith was the first to made a detailed distinction between productive and unproductive labor.However,Western mainstream economists have completely abandoned the concept of productive and unproductive labor,and no longer talked about the difference today.On the basis of the theory from the classical economists,Marx inherited critically and developed the theory of productive labor.In the past,one of the main reasons for the slow development of China's tertiary industry was the lack of a correct understanding of the role of the unproductive sector.Now dominated by naturalism,modern mainstream economics is vigorously preaching the development of the tertiary industry.The dispute between productive and unproductive labor in western economics and Marxist political economy and the development path of China's tertiary industry all indicate that the role of unproductive labor in economic development is worthy of consideration and urgent study.The rate of profit is the stimulation of the surplus value created by labor in productive sectors and its change is the key to the economic fluctuation and growth.It is an effective and feasible way to investigate the status and function of unproductive labor in economic development by exploring the influence of unproductive labor on the rate of profit.Based on previous studies,this paper focuses on the impact of the growth of unproductive labor on the change of the rate of profit,explores its internal mechanism,and extends Marx's analysis theory of the rate of profit with modern mathematical methods.On this basis,this paper have demonstrated the role of unproductive labor in China's industrialization since the 1990 s.Firstly,this paper uses the empirical research of structural development economics to provide the evidence of the growth of unproductive labor,and explains it with the theory of capital circulation and division of labor.Secondly,based on the theory of Marxist political economy,this paper analyzes the negative effect of unproductive labor on surplus value.That is,the growth of unproductive labor reduces the retained surplus value of productive sector.Starting from the theoretical framework of neo-classical economics,this paper illustrates the positive effect of unproductive labor on surplus value.That is,the growth of unproductive labor increases the rate of surplus value.Thirdly,based on the theory of Marxist political economy,starting from the theoretical framework of neo-classical economics,this paper analyzes the effect of unproductive labor on the organic composition of capital: when the economy is in laborbiased accumulation,the organic composition of capital increases with the growth of unproductive labor;when the economy is in neutral accumulation,with the growth of unproductive labor,the organic composition of capital remains unchanged;when the economy is in capital-biased accumulation,with the growth of unproductive labor,the organic composition of capital decreases.Fourthly,this paper constructs the mathematical model of the growth of unproductive labor and the change of average profit rate.based on the mathematical schemata of the nth period of Marx's extended reproduction,it establishes an expanded reproduction model that includes the unproductive sector and obtains the year-end value composition of the whole economy and the productive sector in the nth period.Then,the formula of the general rate of profit is established,and the formula of the net rate of profit is established under the influence of unproductive labor on retained profit.On the basis of the positive effect of unproductive labor on the rate of surplus value,the negative effect on retained profit and the impact of the organic composition of capital,the effect of division of labor,retention effect and the effect of organic composition of unproductive labor on the net rate of profit are discussed.It comprehensively considers the effect of division of labor,retention effect and the effect of capital organic composition,and analyzes the impact of the increase of unproductive labor on the change of net rate of profit.Finally it finds out the impact of the increase of unproductive labor on the change trend of net rate of profit :(1)when it is in laborbiased accumulation,if the impact of the effect of division of labor is greater than the impact of the sum of the effect of the organic composition of capital and retention effect,the net rate of profit increases with the growth of unproductive labor;if the impact of the effect of division of labor is equal to the impact of the sum of the effect of the organic composition of capital and retention effect,the net rate of profit remains unchanged with the growth of unproductive labor;if the impact of the division of labor effect is smaller than the impact of the sum of the effect of the organic composition of capital and the retention effect,the net rate of profit decreases with the growth of unproductive labor.(2)when it is in neutral accumulation,if the impact of the effect of division of labor is greater than the impact of the retention effect,net rate of profit increases with the growth of unproductive labor;if the impact of the effect of division of labor is equal to the impact of the retention effect,the net profit rate remains unchanged with the growth of unproductive labor;if the impact of the effect of division of labor is smaller than the impact of the retention effect,the net rate of profit decreases with the growth of unproductive labor.(3)when it is in capital-biased accumulation,if the impact of the sum of the effect of division of labor and the effect of the organic composition of capital is greater than the impact of the retention effect,the net rate of profit increases with the growth of unproductive labor;if the impact of the sum of the effect of division of labor and the effect of the organic composition of capital is equal to the impact of the retention effect,the net profit rate remains unchanged with the growth of unproductive labor;if the impact of the sum of the effect of division of labor and the effect of the organic composition of capital is less than the impact of the retention effect,the net rate of profit decreases with the growth of unproductive labor.Finally,this paper analyzes the changes of unproductive labor and the rate of profit in China.Through an econometric model between unproductive labor and the net rate of profit in China,it shows that the increase of unproductive labor has a u-shaped influence on the net rate of profit,but the influence coefficient is small from 1990 to 2000.From 2000 to 2015,increase of unproductive labor had an inverted u-shaped influence on the net rate of profit,but the influence coefficient is larger.Especially after 2010,even though the labor productivity of the production sector has been improving,due to the negative effect of unproductive labor,the change of the general rate of profit and the net rate of profit presents an opposite trend.On the basis of this research,this paper argues that the key to the impact of the increase of unproductive labor on net rate of profit is to analyze the relationship between the effect of division of labor,retention effect and the effect of capital organic composition. |
PDF Full Text Request