Capitalist profit arises even when all goods exchange at fair value

Evidence

All goods are exchanged at their fair value. No one is cheating anyone. So in a properly capitalist system, where do these profits come from? The answer shows why capitalist wealth is grounded in inequality and human alienation. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 97

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sets up the puzzle of where capitalist profit comes from without cheating — the fair-exchange paradox that the next paragraphs resolve through surplus value.
• XREF: connects to: Capitalist-worker exchange is formally equal but substantively unequal — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1365; Exchange creates value as genuinely as production does. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 228; Exchange itself, not utility or scarcity, creates economic value. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 261 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Surplus-value emerges where equivalent exchange opens a gap over reproduction costs #expands (0.90) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1376
• Capitalist-worker exchange is formally equal but substantively unequal #expands (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1365
• Profit comes from surplus value workers generate #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 103
• Exchange creates value as genuinely as production does. #contradicts (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 228
• Exchange itself, not utility or scarcity, creates economic value. #contradicts (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 261
• Capitalist profit also depends on unpaid domestic labor #qualifies (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 106
• Competition drives price toward exchange value determined by embedded labour #qualifies (0.75) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 787