Theories of Surplus Value, Part II, Chapter 8 - Part 55

Marx's exposition in this section is hard to follow, both because of the use of imperial measures and non-decimal currency, and because it is set out as a narrative without tables, and within the narrative, terms such as “worst previous” become indecipherable, as additional types of land are included. Fortunately, most of this exposition duplicates Marx's analysis of rent in Capital III, and I have previously set it out in extensive tables there. I will attempt to make a similar presentation here.

Marx assumes a situation where there are four types of rent producing land. Each type of land is 20% more fertile than the next, and produces 20% more rent. Land type I', does not pay differential rent, but pays absolute rent of £100.

Type	Capital £'s	Output Kilos	Rent £'s
I'	1000	1000.00	100.00
I	1000	1200.00	120.00
II	1000	1440.00	144.00
III	1000	1728.00	172.80
IV	1000	2073.60	207.36

If we take rent to actually be equal to surplus profit, we would have, assuming a 10% rate of profit, and a market value of £1.20 per kilo.

Type	Capital £'s	Output Kilos	Price of Production £'s	Value	Rent £'s
I'	1000	1000.00	1100.00	1200.00	100.00
I	1000	1200.00	1100.00	1440.00	340.00
II	1000	1440.00	1100.00	1728.00	628.00
III	1000	1728.00	1100.00	2073.60	973.60
IV	1000	2073.60	1100.00	2488.32	1388.32

The rent produced by each type of land is then not determined by its own absolute fertility but by the relative fertility. If more fertile land becomes even more fertile that reduces the rent from less fertile lands, because the surplus profit they produce falls, as the price of production falls.

“Accordingly, Storch’s law is valid here, namely, that the rent of the most fertile land determines the rent of the last land to yield any rent at all, and therefore also the difference between the land which yields the undifferentiated rent and that which yields no rent at all.” (p 99)

The other situation where the previous worst land, I, could produce rent is where the value of the product of lands I-IV is equal to the price of production of the output of the new land I', which is itself below the value of the output. In other words, wherever the value of the output of land I is greater than the price of production for I'.

“If the value is above the average price, then there is an excess profit above the average profit, hence the possibility of a rent.” (p 100)

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