Profit only arises because workers produce more value than they are paid.

Evidence

But the illusion breaks down once we leave the sphere of the labor market and enter that of production. Capitalists have the right to fully “consume” this special commodity they have purchased. Consuming labor power means putting you to work, work that generates value. And it turns out that this work produces much more value than what you get in your paycheck. This extra value, or more technically surplus value, is the source of profit and economic growth in a capitalist economy. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 103

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces surplus value as the core mechanism of capitalist profit — the load-bearing concept the whole book’s austerity argument will build on.
• XREF: connects to: Profit comes from surplus value workers generate — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 103; Capital profits arise because experiential labour cannot be bought directly. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 127; Sold output yields more money than inputs, becoming wages and rents — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 811 (+2 more)