Land use and commodity production.

Abstract

2 models of the operation of the capitalist economic system are that of Von Thunen, based on land use and land rent analysis, and that of Sraffa, a general model which has revived interest in the classical labour theory of value. This paper attempts to integrate the 2 so as to produce a model which accounts for production, prices, distribution, rents and land use. The model, consisting of 20 variables in 19 simultaneous equations, begins with a spatialised Sraffa model and considers total input, central prices, differential rents and scarcity rent. An elaboration of the basic model results with the addition of the process of land use change. -J.Welford