1,721,012 research outputs found
Piero Sraffa on utility and the subjective method in the 1920s: a tentative appraisal of Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts
No full textThe paper reconstructs Sraffa's assessment of utility‐based and individualistic explanations of demand in Marshallian economics in the light of some fresh evidence provided by Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts of the 1920s. It is shown that Sraffa criticised the standard Marshallian explanation of individual consumption choices, emphasised the independent measurement requirement in explanation, lacked enthusiasm for the heuristic potentialities of the ‘subjective method’ in economic theorising and strove for an analysis of the phenomena of interdependence in the sphere of production as well as in the sphere of consumption
Piero Sraffa: economic reality, the economist and economic theory: an interpretation
Full text linkWe carry out a textual analysis of Sraffa's main published contributions to pure economics in order to elaborate a rational reconstruction of an aspect of Sraffa's implicit methodology which has not yet been duly investigated. We refer to the threefold relationship between 'economic reality', 'the economist/observer' and 'economic theory'. We elucidate the constraints which, for Sraffa, should bind the economists' arbitrariness and we trace the elements of continuity and evolution from the 1925-6 critique of Marshallian economics to Production of Commodities.Piero Sraffa, methodology, theory of value, laws of returns, marginalism, classical economics, joint production,
Defense versus Opulence? An Appraisal of the Malthus-Ricardo 1815 Controversy on the Corn Laws
No full textThis article proposes a rational reconstruction of the arguments of Malthus
and Ricardo in their 1815 essays, Grounds of an Opinion and An
Essay on Profits, whereby a policy of free corn trade was repudiated and
endorsed, respectively. Malthus envisaged defense and (trade-induced)
opulence as two mutually alternative options and, if required to make a
choice, he had no hesitation in choosing the former. By contrast, Ricardo
excluded any such trade-off, arguing that even in the case of war or poor
domestic harvest, foreign agricultural countries would be seriously damaged
if they opted for restrictions on their corn exports to Great Britain
Consumption patterns, development and growth: Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Thomas Robert Malthus
No full textIn this paper we combine the classical analysis of luxury consumption with the classical theories of development and growth. We also focus on the role played, within classical economics, by institutional factors such as the structure of property rights and contractual arrangements in determining consumption patterns and investment in agriculture. In particular, we show that Ricardo's and Malthus' different views on the role of consumption expenditure in promoting growth depend on Ricardo's acceptance (Malthus' refusal) of Say's law of markets and on Ricardo's exclusion (Malthus' inclusion) of a non-commodity option such as leisure from (in) the range of available consumption alternatives.Structural Change, Long-run Growth, Consumption Pattern, Classical Authors, Luxury Consumption, Property Rights,
“Natural wages dynamics in a Ricardian growth model”
No full textRicardian growth models are generally built on the assumption of a constant natural wage. Such an assumption conceals the fact that classical economists were aware that in growing economies workers' normal pattern of consumption steadily rise both in terms of quantity and quality. In the first part of the chapter we gather some classical hints on the relationship between economic growth and natural wages in order to provide a rational reconstruction of the classical point of view on natural wage dynamics. In the second part of the chapter we propose a formal analysis of the dynamics of a Ricardian model with endogenous natural wag
The Sylos Postulate reconsidered
No full textThis chapter makes a textual comparison between the 1957 2nd Italian edition and the 1962 1st American edition of Oligopoly and Technical Progress, showing that Sylos Labini added to the later edition some fresh sections concerning new firms’ entry and incumbents’ reaction which partially contradict Modigliani’s 1958 presentation of the Sylos Postulate. The theoretical differences between Sylos Labini and Modigliani with regard to the assumption of constant output are traced back to their different modelling strategies on how to tackle the issue of external firms’ conjectures in determining the long-run oligopoly equilibrium price
Introduction
No full textThis collection of essays is a tribute to Neri Salvadori, the man and scholar, teacher and friend, whom the scientific community owes important works in the tradition of Piero Sraffa’s revival of the classical economists’ approach to the problems of value, income distribution, capital accumulation, technical progress, scarce natural resources, economic development and growth. The essays in this book have all been freshly written and contain original work with novel ideas in the areas mentioned. In this introduction we first summarize briefly Neri Salvadori’s academic career, his work and his intellectual and organisational activities and then provide a short overview of the essays collected in this volume
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