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Surplus value is a central concept in Karl Marx's critique of political economy. Marx did not himself invent the term, he developed the concept.〔Pierre-Joseph Proudhon already used the idea in a critical sense.().〕 "Surplus value" is a translation of the German word "''Mehrwert''", which simply means value added (when the sales revenue is less than the cost of materials used up). Conventionally, value-added is equal to the sum of gross wage income and gross profit income. However, Marx's use of this concept is different, because for Marx, the ''Mehrwert'' refers to the yield, profit or return on production capital invested, i.e. the amount of the increase in the value of capital. Hence, Marx's use of ''Mehrwert'' has always been translated as "surplus value", distinguishing it from "value-added". According to Marx's theory, surplus value is equal to the new value created by workers in excess of their own labour-cost, which is appropriated by the capitalist as profit when products are sold.〔(Marx, The Capital, Chapter 8 )〕〔"...It was made clear that the wage worker has permission to work for his own subsistence—that is, to live, only insofar as he works for a certain time gratis for the capitalist (and hence also for the latter's co-consumers of surplus value)..." Karl Marx, ''(Critique of the Gotha Programme''. Sec.II )〕 Marx thought that the gigantic increase in wealth and population from the 19th century onwards was mainly due to the competitive striving to obtain ''maximum surplus-value from the employment of labor'', resulting in an equally gigantic increase of productivity and capital resources. To the extent that increasingly the economic surplus is convertible into money and expressed in money, the amassment of wealth is possible on a larger and larger scale (see capital accumulation and surplus product). == Theory == The problem of explaining the source of surplus value is expressed by Friedrich Engels as follows: Marx's solution was to distinguish between labor-time worked and labor power. A worker who is sufficiently productive can produce an output value greater than what it costs to hire him. Although his wage seems to be based on hours worked, in an economic sense this wage does not reflect the full value of what the worker produces. Effectively it is not labour which the worker sells, but his capacity to work. Imagine a worker who is hired for an hour and paid $10. Once in the capitalist's employ, the capitalist can have him operate a boot-making machine using which the worker produces $10 worth of work every fifteen minutes. Every hour, the capitalist receives $40 worth of work and only pays the worker $10, capturing the remaining $30 as gross revenue. Once the capitalist has deducted fixed and variable operating costs of (say) $20 (leather, depreciation of the machine, etc.), he is left with $10. Thus, for an outlay of capital of $30, the capitalist obtains a surplus value of $10; his capital has not only been replaced by the operation, but also has increased by $10. The worker cannot capture this benefit directly because he has no claim to the means of production (e.g. the boot-making machine) or to its products, and his capacity to bargain over wages is restricted by laws and the supply/demand for wage labour. Hence the rise of trade unions which aim to create a more favourable bargaining position through collective action by workers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Surplus value」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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