## Thursday, 27 March 2014

### 3) The Working Period Smaller than the Circulation Period

Marx assumes a turnover time of 9 weeks. £100 of capital is laid out each week. The working period is 3 weeks, and circulation period 6 weeks. That means that now, 3 capitals rather than 2 are required, to ensure continuous production.

This is similar to the previous situation where there were two equal capitals, which did not overlap.

Marx sets this out in the following tables.

 CAPITAL I Periods of Turnover Working Periods Periods of Circulation I. 1st - 9th week 1st - 3rd week 4th - 9th week II. 10th - 18th " 10th - 12th " 13th - 18th " III. 19Th - 27th " 19th - 21st " 22nd - 27th " IV. 28th - 36th " 28th - 30th " 31st - 36th " V. 37th - 45th " 37th - 39th " 40th - 45th " VI. 46th - [54th] " 46th - 48th " 49th - [54th] "

 CAPITAL II Periods of Turnover Working Periods Periods of Circulation I. 1st - 9th week 4th - 6th week 7th - 12th week II. 10th - 18th " 13th - 15th " 16th - 21st " III. 19Th - 27th " 22nd - 24th " 25th - 30th " IV. 28th - 36th " 31st - 33rd " 34th - 39th " V. 37th - 45th " 40th - 42nd " 43rd - 48th " VI. 46th - [54th] " 49th - 51st " 51st - [57th] "

 CAPITAL III Periods of Turnover Working Periods Periods of Circulation I. 7th - 15th week 7th - 9th week 10th - 15th week II. 16th - 24th " 16th - 18th " 19th - 24th " III. 25Th - 33rd " 25th - 27th " 28th - 33rd " IV. 34th - 42nd " 34th - 36th " 37th - 42nd " V. 43rd - 51st " 43rd - 45th " 46th - 51st "

Because they do not overlap, none of these capitals has to make up the rest of a working period for any other, and so none has left over, freed capital, after having done so. Each of them can be traced to the end of the year as self-contained capitals.

Over 51 weeks the total output is 51 x £100 = £5,100. The capital advanced by the three capitals is 3 x £300 = £900. The number of working periods of the aggregate capital is then 5100/900 = 5⅔.

The amount actually turned over by the three capitals is:

Capital 1 5⅔ x £300 = £1,700

Capital 2 5⅓ x £300 = £1,600

Capital 3 5 x £300 = £1,500

Total £900 x 5⅓ = £4,800