Marx 200 years on

Abstract

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, the last of the classical political economists. This article aims to mark the occasion by drawing attention to some of his key works in economics and to present some of his ideas in a way that will make sense to readers not familiar with or very much interested in the complexities of the labour theory of value. I begin with a brief biography and a summary of his main works in economics. I then explore in some detail ideas related to the economic surplus, unpaid labour and exploitation, and attempt to tease out the implications of his analysis for the determination of the wage share. While I argue that Marx has not succeeded in providing adequate theoretical support for his prediction that the wage share will fall as capital accumulates, he has nonetheless provided a very interesting and insightful collection of ideas by which we may, even today, approach a wide range of issues relating to production and distribution. JEL Codes: B14, B31, D33