The Empirics of the Labour Theory of Value: Reply to Nitzan and Bichler

The labor theory of value, originated in the classics and reformulated by Marx, has found support in numerous empirical works during the last thirty years. In many economies, sectors in monetary terms are highly correlated with them in terms of labor values. In his book Capital as Power (2009), and in a subsequent discussion online, Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler argue that such results are invalid because the calculations do not use labor value variables but two monetary variables are correlated. Nitzan and Bichler also argue that are spurious correlations by the presence of a third variable. This article refutes both critics and consequently reinforces the empirical support for the theory of labor value.

[For the original exchange, see: "Testing the Labour Theory of Value: An Exchange" here: http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/308/]