relation to their competitors in these same spheres , or in other spheres , who produce without these technological time-save advantages . As Marx states , “ in the same way , a manufacturer who makes use of a new discovery before this has become general sells more cheaply than his competitors and yet still sells above the individual value of his commodity , [ capitalizing on ] … the higher productivity . He thus realizes a surplus profit ”[ 71 ]. Subsequently , due to the fact that , according to Marx , value cannot be created in exchange , i . e . in the realm of circulation , but only redistributed there ; and due to the fact that value is only scientifically quantifiable value , meaning that total value is a given sum and no more , ultimately means that where there is superior profits in turn somewhere else there is inferior profits . Exchange and scientifically quantifiable value means that the distribution of profits and , in general , social capital are finite sums , distributed through win / lose exchanges , where there are definitive losers and winners in relation to how much each individual , entity and / or sphere receives , pertaining to available profits and , in general , the available finite sums of value , labor-power and social labor-time available .
According to Marx , “ it is the rate of profit that is the driving force in capitalist production , and nothing is produced save what can be produced at a profit ”[ 72 ]; as a result , the higher the profit in a sphere of production , i . e . the higher the rate of profit , the higher is production and the amount of capital investment in this sphere . On the other hand , the lower the profit in a sphere of production , i . e . the lower the rate of profit , the lower is production and the amount of capital investment in this sphere . This process , for Marx , is one of equalization , where according to Marx , production is govern by the rate of profit : the higher the profit rate , the more capital investment , the more capital investment , the more growth , the more growth , the greater the cost of production , the greater the cost of production , the less is the profit and the rate of profit , due to rising levels of constant capital , which , ultimately results in capital withdrawals from the sphere of production in favor of another , more profitable , sphere . As Marx states ,
The competition between capitalists [ for bigger profits and a bigger slice of pie ]… which is itself this movement of equalization — consists here in their withdrawing capital bit by bit from those spheres where profit is below the average for a long period , and similarly injecting it bit by bit into spheres where it is above this .[ 73 ]
The result is increasing stagnation in spheres where profits and the rates of profit are low , in relation to the general average profit , and increasing productive-animation in spheres where profits and the rates of profit are high . Notwithstanding , as increasing production and capital investments augment in super profitable spheres , driving production costs up , there is simultaneously a slowing down process in rising profits in these spheres , which eventually results in super-profits and high rates of profit leveling-out , decreasing and eventually falling below their initial prices of production . Even with the implementation time-saving and cost-saving-technology , surplus profits cease “ as soon as the exceptional manner of production becomes universal ”[ 74 ], in the end , resulting in greater and greater equalization between production prices , profits and profit rates within and between all spheres of production .
According to Marx , this fundamental capitalist process , where capitalists , in their never-ending search for surplus profits , withdraw capital “ from a sphere with a low rate of profit and [ deposit it in ] others that yield higher profit ”[ 75 ], results in “ the constant migration , the distribution of capital between the different spheres according to where the profit rate is rising and where it is falling ”[ 76 ]. This fundamental capitalist process eventually creates general equalization among all the spheres of production , where , according to Marx , this “ produces a relationship between supply and demand such that the average profit is the same in [ all ] the various … spheres [ of production ]”[ 77 ]. Specifically , general equalization sets-in across all spheres of production , where the insatiable capitalist search for megaprofits itself , pressured by the underlying law of value , manages “ to reduce the profit rate everywhere to the same common and general level ”[ 78 ].