How are labor values calculated for processes exhibiting joint production?
This question is not really asked frequently, but it’s answer is helpful in understanding issues associated with fixed capital (machinery) and natural resources. Joint production occurs when a single production process has outputs of two or more commodities, such as wool and mutton. A process can no longer be identified with an industry; more than one process may be simultaneously in use for producing the same set of outputs. The analysis of the choice of technique must be handled simultaneously with the analysis of joint production. Many analytical difficulties arise in the study of joint production, and some are associated with the determination of labor values. In general, one cannot calculate labor values for joint production by a reduction of inputs to dated labor flows. Nor can one necessarily calculate the labor value of a given commodity by creating a subsystem with the same processes used in the chosen technique, but a net output consisting solely of the desired commodity. One
