Part One: Commodities and Money
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are a theoretical discussion of the commodity, value, exchange, and the genesis of money. As Marx writes, "Beginnings are always difficult in all sciences ... the section that contains the analysis of commodities, will therefore present the greatest difficulty." The modern reader is often perplexed about Marx going on about "one coat is equal to twenty yards of linen..". Professor John Kenneth Galbraith reminds us that "the purchase of a coat by an average citizen was an action comparable in modern times to the purchase of an automobile or even a house."
Read more about this topic: Capital, Volume I
Famous quotes containing the words commodities and/or money:
“Every wise, just, and mild government, by rendering the condition of its subjects easy and secure, will always abound most in people, as well as in commodities and riches.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“Poetry asks people to have values, form opinions, care about some other part of experience besides making money and being successful on the job.”
—Toi Derricotte (b. 1941)