is the substance within all commodities, i. e. value, price and / or capital, which enables scientific measurement, scientific comparability and scientific hierarchical classification to transpire, based on the quantities of socially necessary labor-time embodied in each constituent.
Notwithstanding, for Marx, it is through the constant fluctuations of market prices in relation to prices of production, i. e. market values, that a vast generalized equalization process between all spheres of production is set in motion, unwittingly, by the capitalist search for maximum profit, i. e. surplus profit, which is, as well, a consequence of the influence of the overarching law of value. Surplus profits provide the incentive for massive capital investments and for expanding capitalist production in the sense that surplus profits consist“ the excess of individual profit over and above the average profit”[ 67 ], namely, price of production. Surplus profits are derived from market prices that exceed market values, i. e. their prices of production, within and across spheres of production. Surplus profits are mega-profits lying above the average profit of a specific sphere of production, meaning that all capital investments within this particular sphere of production will in effect receive a higher return on investments due to the fact that market prices are above prices of production. A surplus profit stimulates production and capital investments in a particular sphere of production, due to the fact that a greater than average profits can be had. In contrast to other spheres of production, where market prices more accurately reflect and / or are lower than prices of production and average profits, within spheres of production where market prices exceed prices of production, there is opportunity for surplus profit, that is, above average profits.
According to Marx, normal surplus profit“ is determined by the difference between the individual production price of commodities produced … and the general production price which governs the market prices of commodities … across [ a ] sphere of production”[ 68 ]. For Marx, surplus profits are derived from both market prices exceeding prices of production and individual prices of production exceeding general prices of production, that is, the general production price of one overall sphere of production and / or the general production price of all capitalist spheres of production combined. As Marx states,“ the general social price of production in the sphere of production as a whole … governs the [ total capitalist ] market”[ 69 ]; consequently, this overall general price of production provides a base by which all prices of production within and between all spheres of production can be compared, evaluated and ranked in relation to profit rates, profit gains and, more importantly, the production and realization of surplus profits. As a result, surplus profits are a matter of both fluctuating market prices and the productive conditions involved in the formation of an individual price of production, pertaining to the specific production of an individual commodity, whereupon a“ reduction in the cost price …[ may generate ] surplus profit”[ 70 ]. A reduction in the production-cost of a commodity may generate a surplus profit by lowering the individual price of production of a commodity in relation to the general price of production for this specific species of commodity, whose general production price determines the range that all market prices, pertaining to this species of commodities, will oscillate around. Consequently, the difference between individual prices of production and the general price of production for an overall sphere and / or all spheres of production combine, dictates if there is a surplus profit or not. This pertains only to the attainment of surplus profit through the production of commodities.
Albeit, in addition, surplus profits are also created via monopolies, where the capitalist, himself or herself, can set the market prices artificially above market values. Secondly, according to Marx, surplus profits are created via supply and demand, which is the mechanism that increases and / or decreases market prices. When effective demand is high market prices rise and when effective demand is so high that it drives market prices above their market values, i. e. prices of production, surplus profits are available. Finally, for Marx, surplus profits are created via technological innovations, which permit capitalists in specific spheres of production to produce below the socially necessary labor-time governing these specific spheres, which ultimately translates into surplus profits due to the advantages of time-savingtechnology. As a result, these cost-efficient capitalists reap higher profits, namely surplus profits, in