Surplus value

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== Definition == == Definition == In Marxian economics, surplus value is the difference in value created by workers in the process of production and the wages they receive in exchange for their labor. In a capitalist system of production, workers sell their labor power to capitalists in exchange for their wages. However, the value produced by workers during a workday exceeds the amount required to reproduce the workers' labor power, as embodied by their wages. This excess value is kept by the capitalists as profit. Marx regarded this not as a symptom of fair exchange, but as a structural feature of capitalist production. Because workers do not own the means of production, they are required to sell their labor at a wage less than the value they create, enabling capitalists to grow wealth over time by reinvesting this surplus value. Marx linked this process and broader patterns of inequality, arguing it contributes to the concentration of wealth and continued class division within capitalist societies, and saw surplus value as central to understanding how economic growth can occur alongside unequal outcomes.<ref>Marx, Karl. ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'', Vol. 1 (1867).</ref> In Marxian economics, surplus value is the difference in value created by workers in the process of production and the wages they receive in exchange for their labor. In a capitalist system of production, workers sell their labor power to capitalists in exchange for their wages. However, the value produced by workers during a workday exceeds the amount required to reproduce workers' labor power, as embodied by their wages. This excess value is kept by the capitalists as profit. Marx regarded this not as a symptom of fair exchange, but as a structural feature of capitalist production. Because workers do not own the means of production, they are required to sell their labor at a wage less than the value they create, enabling capitalists to grow wealth over time by reinvesting this surplus value. Marx linked this process and broader patterns of inequality, arguing it contributes to the concentration of wealth and continued class division within capitalist societies, and saw surplus value as central to understanding how economic growth can occur alongside unequal outcomes.<ref>Marx, Karl. ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'', Vol. 1 (1867).</ref>

''Total'' surplus-value in an economy (Marx refers to the ''mass'' or volume of surplus-value) is basically equal to the sum of net distributed and undistributed [[profit (economics)|profit]], net [[interest]], net [[Renting|rents]], net [[tax]] on production and various net receipts associated with [[royalties]], [[licensing]], leasing, certain honorariums etc. (see also [[value product]]). ''Total'' surplus-value in an economy (Marx refers to the ''mass'' or volume of surplus-value) is basically equal to the sum of net distributed and undistributed [[profit (economics)|profit]], net [[interest]], net [[Renting|rents]], net [[tax]] on production and various net receipts associated with [[royalties]], [[licensing]], leasing, certain honorariums etc. (see also [[value product]]).