Piero Sraffa: The Man and the Scholar

Piero Sraffa: The Man and the Scholar
Author: Heinz D. Kurz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317997204

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Previously published as special issues of The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought and The Review of Political Economy, this volume contains the papers devoted to the life and work of Piero Sraffa. Sraffa was a leading intellectual of the twentieth century. He was brought to Cambridge by John Maynard Keynes and had an important impact on the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. He received the golden medal Söderström of the Swedish Academy of Sciences for his edition of David Ricardo's Works and Correspondence and he is the author of Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, one of the most often cited book in economics. Using hitherto unpublished material from Sraffa's literary heritage kept at Trinity College, Cambridge, the papers throw new light on the intellectual development of the young Sraffa and correct several of the received views on him and his contribution. Themes covered concern his: objectivism rediscovery and reformulation of the classical theory of value and distribution criticism of Alfred Marshall's analysis relationship with his Cambridge colleagues and friends biography around the time when he left Italy for the UK friendship with Wittgenstein and his impact on the latter's thinking.

A Revolution in Economic Theory

A Revolution in Economic Theory
Author: Ajit Sinha
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2016-08-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319306162

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This book draws on the work of one of the sharpest minds of the 20th century, Piero Sraffa. Ludwig Wittgenstein credited him for 'the most consequential ideas' of the Philosophical Investigations (1953) and put him high on his short list of geniuses. Sraffa's revolutionary contribution to economics was, however, lost to the world because economists did not pay attention to the philosophical underpinnings of his economics. Based on exhaustive archival research, Sinha presents an exciting new thesis that shows how Sraffa challenged the usual mode of theorizing in terms of essential and mechanical causation and, instead, argued for a descriptive or geometrical theory based on simultaneous relations. A consequence of this approach was a complete removal of 'agent's subjectivity' and 'marginal method' or counterfactual reasoning from economic analysis – the two fundamental pillars of orthodox economic theory.

Business cycle theory as a basis for economic policy

Business cycle theory as a basis for economic policy
Author: Pascal Bridel
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2017-10-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317381971

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This book aims to start a debate on the relationship between economic theory – and more precisely business cycle theory – and economic policy, emphasising the diversity of views on economic policy which characterised older periods, in contrast to the homogeneity of the analysis and diagnosis provided by current business cycles developments. Since the 1970s, economic theorists excluding any economic policy interventions and favouring strictly supply-side economic policies have gained a growing influence. The development of Equilibrium Business Cycles theories coincides with the collapse, at least in academic circles, of the Keynesian consensus favouring stabilization policies. The alternative approach which emerged was based on an a priori hypothesis about the stability of the economy – or at least on its remarkable ability to stabilize itself. The direct consequence of this approach is that any stabilization objective for economic policy is not only misguided but also inefficient. There are many reasons why Keynesian policies ceased to be dominant in theoretical circles, but the most helpful circumstances for the rapid propagation of a new revolutionary theory is certainly the existence of an established orthodoxy, clearly inconsistent with the most salient facts of reality. This book offers a sample of different theoretical approaches to business cycles, examining their respective views on economic policy with the objective of understanding business cycles that have been lost, and identifying those views which explain fluctuations and the way we conceive economic policy. This book was originally published as a special issue of The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought.

Classical Economics Today

Classical Economics Today
Author: Marcella Corsi
Publisher: Anthem Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2018-01-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 178308751X

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“Classical Economics Today: Essays in Honor of Alessandro Roncaglia” comprises a collection of original essays by leading economists who adopt a Classical approach to political economy. The essays showcase the relevance and topicality of the Classical approach, as opposed to the sterility and real-world irrelevance of mainstream economics.

A Reflection on Sraffa’s Revolution in Economic Theory

A Reflection on Sraffa’s Revolution in Economic Theory
Author: Ajit Sinha
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 611
Release: 2021-06-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 303047206X

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This book presents a substantial collection of essays from a wide range of well respected scholars addressing several aspects of Piero Sraffa’s economics in light of continuing controversies over the interpretation that should be placed on his work. It moves beyond extant scholarship with an added emphasis on the philosophical dimension of Sraffa’s seminal work, Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities. Contributors probe new ways of thinking about the political economy of Sraffa and in doing so, alongside the comments to each contribution by other scholars, provide a cutting edge debate and discussion on non-mainstream economic theory. This book will be of interest to academics and advanced graduate students in economics, with additional interest from scholars in philosophy and the methodology of science.

Neo-Marxism and Post-Keynesian Economics

Neo-Marxism and Post-Keynesian Economics
Author: Ludo Cuyvers
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2022-06-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000600424

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Piero Sraffa and Joan Robinson, both iconic Cambridge economists, were highly influenced by the economic theory of Karl Marx, and integrated important elements of Marx’s economic system into their theories. This book argues, based on published and unpublished documents, that the work of Sraffa and Robinson can in fact be considered as essentially post-Keynesian neo-Marxist. The first part of the book reviews the intellectual development of several key thinkers to this neo-Marxist current in economic thought: Kalecki, Steindl, Baran and Sweezy. Part One and Part Two separately examine Robinson and Sraffa’s works and questions how they fit into this specific neo-Marxist current, either building on it (in Robinson’s case), or following another direction (in Sraffa’s case). Part Three observes Robinson’s theory of economic growth and its relationship to the views of Marx and Kalecki. Overall, Cuyvers demonstrates how their thought processes share characteristics with neo-Marxist key ideological ideas, such as stating or implying the labour theory of value as either redundant or wrong, emphasising the role of class struggle in the distribution of income and rejecting Marx’s falling rate of profits. Following on from ideas briefly introduced in Cuyvers’s Economic Ideas of Marx’s Capital (2017), this book will particularly appeal to readers interested in the history of economic thought, the work of Sraffa, Robinson and Marx, post-Keynesian economics and neo-Marxism.

Revisiting Classical Economics

Revisiting Classical Economics
Author: Heinz Kurz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2014-08-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317907973

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The financial crisis and the economic crisis that followed triggered a crisis in the subject of economics, as it is typically being taught today especially in macroeconomics and related fields. A renewed interest in earlier authors, especially the classical economists from Adam Smith to David Ricardo and John Maynard Keynes, developed. This book may also be seen as a response to this interest. What can we learn from the authors mentioned, what we could not learn from the mainstream? This volume contains a selection of essays which deepens and widens the understanding of the classical approach to important problems, such as value and distribution, growth and technical progress, and exhaustible natural resources. It is the fourth collection in a row and reflects an on-going discussion of the fecundity of the classical approach. A main topic of the essays is a comparison between the classical approaches with modern theory and thus an identification of what can be learned by elaborating on the ideas of Smith and Ricardo and Marx above and beyond and variously in contradiction to certain mainstream view. Since the work of Piero Sraffa spurred the revival of classical economic thought, his contributions are dealt with in some detail. The attention then focuses on economic growth and the treatment of exhaustible resources within a classical framework of the analysis.

Reclaiming Pluralism in Economics

Reclaiming Pluralism in Economics
Author: Jerry Courvisanos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2016-03-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317359879

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Until the end of the early 1970s, from a history of economic thought perspective, the mainstream in economics was pluralist, but once neoclassical economics became totally dominant it claimed the mainstream as its own. Since then, alternative views and schools of economics increasingly became minorities in the discipline and were considered ‘heterodox’. This book is in honour of John Edward King who has an impressive publication record in the area of economic theory with specific interest in how economic thought in the past shapes current economic theory and enforces certain paths of economic policy and economic development. This book is divided into five themes based on King’s interests. The first theme looks at the challenge in trying to reclaim pluralism in economics. The second faces head-on the direct collision of mainstream economics with history of economic thought and heterodox economics. The third addresses classical economic ideas, their central influence in the past and how they can still primarily guide modern pluralist economics. The fourth examines Post Keynesian and Kaleckian economics with a view to providing a more coherent and extensive branch of heterodox economics. The final theme critiques the policy of neoliberalism that has entrenched itself in capitalist economies which have led to financial, industrial, labour, and behavioural/consumerist crises. This text aims to provide a clear path for pluralism to serve the economics discipline as its standard bearer, and to no longer be merely a heterodox challenge to the mainstream. This book is of interest to those who study history of economic thought, political economy and heterodox economics.

Keynes, Sraffa, and the Criticism of Neoclassical Theory

Keynes, Sraffa, and the Criticism of Neoclassical Theory
Author: Neri Salvadori
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 451
Release: 2012-05-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136731156

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Heinz Kurz is recognised internationally as a leading economic theorist and a foremost historian of economic thought. This book pays tribute to his outstanding contributions on the occasion of his 65th birthday by bringing together a unique collection of new essays by distinguished economists from around the world. Keynes, Sraffa, and the Criticism of Neoclassical Theory comprises twenty-three essays, covering themes in Keynesian economic theory, in the development of the modern classical approach to economic theory, linear production models, and the critique of neoclassical theory. The essays in this book will be an invaluable source of inspiration for economists interested in economic theory and in the evolution of economic thought. They will also be of interest to postgraduate and research students specialising in economic theory and in the history of economic thought.

The Twenty-First Century

The Twenty-First Century
Author: John Ryskamp
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2010-06-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0557537657

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The author's postconstructivist aesthetic applied to poetry.