402 research outputs found
Studying Economics as War Effort: The First Economic Treatise in the Ottoman Empire and its Militaristic Motivations
No full textThe introduction of post-Smithian economics into the Ottoman Empire in the early nineteenth century was primarily militaristically motivated. The first known treatise of economics in Ottoman-Turkish is a manuscript, entitled Risâle-i Tedbîr-i Ûmrân-ı Mülkî (A Treatise on the Administration of the Prosperity of the Country/State, c.1835), written exclusively for the Ottoman political-military elite. The manuscript is based mostly on Jean-Baptiste Say’s Cours complet d'économie politique pratique (1828-29). The anonymous author of this 84-page manuscript begins the text with the argument that military technologies and institutions got more sophisticated in modern times and the necessary institutional upgrading to catch up with these changes created a heavy burden on central state finances. This new discipline, i.e. economics, according to the author, provides statesmen with new scientific principles for organizing an effective war economy. Focusing on the militaristic objectives and content of the first known example of the Ottoman-Turkish economic literature, this paper examines the relationship between war and economics in the early nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. It also sheds light on the linguistic and cultural dynamics of the transmission of economic ideas into the Ottoman Empire
Sraffa, the ‘marginal’ method and change
No full textIn the preface to Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities Sraffa emphasizes that his book does not make use of the method of marginal magnitudes. This paper, based mainly on the notes that Sraffa wrote over nearly forty years, shows that Sraffa's rejection of this method, which he calls ‘marginism’ is not due to some aprioristic methodological preconception, but is part of his views on the appropriate method to deal with actual economic phenomena. Indeed, ‘marginism’ deals with changes, which occur in time, as if changes were always amenable to the difference between two situations which exist side by side. But change, outside the world of mechanics and in that of social phenomena, does not follow predetermined paths which are known a priori. Therefore, the marginist method appears to Sraffa as constraining economic analysis within particularly rigid patterns inadequate for the study of economics. In the light of this criticism, the paper sheds new light on Sraffa's attention, which he never relented, for some passages of Marshall's Principles
Studying Economics as War Effort: The First Economic Treatise in the Ottoman Empire and its Militaristic Motivations
No full textThe introduction of post-Smithian economics into the Ottoman Empire in the early nineteenth century was primarily militaristically motivated. The first known treatise of economics in Ottoman-Turkish is a manuscript, entitled Risâle-i Tedbîr-i Ûmrân-ı Mülkî (A Treatise on the Administration of the Prosperity of the Country/State, c.1835), written exclusively for the Ottoman political-military elite. The manuscript is based mostly on Jean-Baptiste Say’s Cours complet d'économie politique pratique (1828-29). The anonymous author of this 84-page manuscript begins the text with the argument that military technologies and institutions got more sophisticated in modern times and the necessary institutional upgrading to catch up with these changes created a heavy burden on central state finances. This new discipline, i.e. economics, according to the author, provides statesmen with new scientific principles for organizing an effective war economy. Focusing on the militaristic objectives and content of the first known example of the Ottoman-Turkish economic literature, this paper examines the relationship between war and economics in the early nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. It also sheds light on the linguistic and cultural dynamics of the transmission of economic ideas into the Ottoman Empire
An enduring partnership: the correspondence between Kahn and J.Robinson
No full textThe correspondence between Joan Robinson and Richard Kahn 1930-1946
The chapter deals with the correspondence between Joan Robinson and Richard Kahn, from 1930, when Joan Robinson wrote to Kahn for the first time to congratulate him on his Fellowship, to 1946, when Keynes died. It examines approximately 550 letters, most of them by Joan Robinson and previously undated , which can be divided into three groups on the basis of the subjects dealt with: a) the making of Economics of Imperfect Competition; b) Kahn’s visit to the United States; c) academic life in Cambridge.
The paper shows the relevance of this correspondence for a better understanding of JVR and RFK’s work and personalities. In particular section a) brings new evidence for an assessment of Kahn’s contribution to the theory of imperfect competion and shows that, while both Kahn and J. Robinson shared choices of method and approach, J. Robinson was more fascinated than Kahn by the tool of marginal analysis and less concerned for the effect on employment of market organization. Section b) reports how Kahn perceived the state of economic theory in the United States and his surprise at noticing how little impact Keynes’s views had had on academic economists. It also illustrates the clash between two ways – English and American – of conceiving the academic life and the purpose of research. Section c) sheds light on the personality of J. Robinson, her political views and her attitude towards family life and Cambridge relations
The defender of the Marshallian tradition: Shove and his correspondence with Kahn, J. Robinson and Sraffa
No full textIl saggio, come tutti gli altri nel libro, è basato sulla corrispondenza finora non pubblicata che ci è pervenuta tra G. Shove, figura autorevole ma meno nota della Cambridge tra le due guerre, e Sraffa, J. Robinson e R. Kahn. I temi affrontati sono relativi alla teoria dell'impresa, alla controversia sui rendimenti aperta dall'articolo di Sraffa del 1926 sull'EJ, alla interpretazione di Marshall
Introduction
No full textIn this paper we present the main results of an investigation into the correspondence exchanged among the group of economists active and influential at Cambridge in the first half of the 20th century. Our purpose is to analyse them as a group rather than as individuals, by studying the relations between authors pair-wise. Our main interest lies in tracing the links between various theoretical developments, reconstructing the “referential context” from which certain concepts and ideas emerged. By referential context we mean the common language evolving from the professional and personal relationships established within a group, and self-validated when exposed to external influences. Since language and style germinate and grow in a network of intellectual and personal relations, the material to draw upon to this end consists of published and unpublished material but mainly of the correspondence.
Our main point is that these Cambridge authors should be seen as a group rather than a school. The former term does not necessarily imply –as does the latter - adherence to a common body of doctrine, but it does convey the ideas of cohesion and sharing among its components. Rather than constructing a common denominator of the various positions, in this paper we look at the issues they disagreed about in the course of their interchange, which was carried out orally, in published writings and in correspondence. At the same time we look at what they shared, which in the main were values, lifestyles and approach to work.
We suggest a metaphor to capture the gestalt of this group – a set of intertwining circles, each intersecting at least one of the others, none intersecting all the others
“The unlooked for proselytizer. J. Robinson and the correspondence with Sraffa, Harrod and Kaldor” .
No full textIl saggio costituisce un capitolo di un libro che ha ricostruito le relazione tra i principali economisti di Cambridge nella prima parte del secolo scorso fino alla morte di Keynes nel 1946. In questo capitolo si ricostruiscono i rapporti di J. Robinson con Sraffa, Kaldor e Harrod. La maggiore attenzione è dedicata alla discussione tra la Robinson e Sraffa intorno alla pubblicazione di Economia della concorrenza imperfetta, ma sono affrontati anche i temi delle teorie dell'occupazione e della nascita del concetto di innovazione neutral
The Wartime economy and the theory of price control
No full textDuring the Second World War, prominent economists in Britain and the USA contributed to the formulation of successful price control schemes, together with the relevant theoretical elaboration. This wartime experience taught two main lessons. Firstly, resources could be allocated efficiently and equitably, regulating markets without abolishing them. Secondly, the success of these regulations depended on mutual accord between workers, producers and governments and, at a higher level, on international cooperation. After the war, the aspiration to set some of the positive outcomes of wartime regulations in terms of price stability, full employment and social justice on a permanent basis, stimulated debate on the pros and cons of extending price controls to peacetime. In this context, a majority of economists and policy-makers became convinced that aggregate demand management was sufficient to achieve these goals simultaneously, while price and wage controls were either unnecessary or altogether harmful. A minority of economists, however, stressed the role of price and wage controls in reducing the risks of wage-price spirals in a context characterized by powerful trade unions and oligopolistic firms.
The aim of this chapter is to reconstruct the debate, focusing on the theoretical arguments underlying attempts to achieve price stability through wage controls. Interest in this approach, long ignored by economists and policymakers after the incomes policies of the 1970s, is re-emerging today in connection with the failure of monetary policy to fight deflation
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