ABSTRACT
The introduction to this section suggested some of the distinctions between orthodox as opposed to Neo-Marxist developments of Marxist political economy. Anwar Shaikh's article falls into the former of these very general categories. Shaikh's argument emphasizes the centrality of Marx's concept of value—the labor theory of value most fully developed by Marx in his theoretical analysis in Capital—as the cornerstone for contemporary development of Marxist political economy.
Part 2 of Shaikh's article serves as a sophisticated extension of material introduced by John Gurley. Shaikh's argument is presented here in the context of his critique of Neo-Ricardian economic thought, which attempts to dismiss much of the theoretical core of the Marxist approach. Part 3 can thus be read as a direct rebuttal to both the Neo-Ricardian critique of Marxist economics, and the general approach to economic theory typified in the article by Ian Steedman in this volume.
