Critical Essays on Piero Sraffa's Legacy in Economics

Critical assessment of Sraffa's published works and their legacy for the economics profession.

This collection offers a critical assessment of the published works of Piero Sraffa, one of the leading economists of the twentieth century, and their legacy for the economics profession. The topics covered explore Sraffa's interpretation of the classical economists; his theory of value and distribution; his critique of partial and general neoclassical equilibrium theory; his focus on the problem of capital; and his critique of Hayek's monetary overinvestment theory of the business cycle. Specific issues investigated include intertemporal general equilibrium theory and the capital problem; the probability of reswitching; Ricardo, Malthus, and the corn model; and the meaning and implication of the capital controversy. Among the contributors are many of the world's leading students of Sraffian economics, including Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson, Christian Bidard, Edwin Burmeister, John Eatwell, Pierangelo Garegnani, Samuel Hollander, Heinz Kurz, Lynn Mainwaring, Neri Salvadori, Bertram Schefold and Ian Steedman.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Piero Sraffa's contributions to economics: a brief survey Heinz D. Kurz; 2. Revisionist findings on Sraffa Paul A. Samuelson; 2a. Comment by John Eatwell; 2b. Comment by Pierangelo Garegnani; 2c. Comment by Bertram Schefold; 2d. Reply by Paul A. Samuelson; Part II. Returns to Scale, Demand, Money and Interest and the Classical Tradition: 3. Sraffa's hits and misses Paul A. Samuelson; 3a. Comment by Heinz D. Kurz and Neri Salvadori; 3b. Reply by Paul A. Samuelson; 4. Sraffa on demand: a textual analysis Neri Salvadori; 5. Malthus and the corn-profit model Samuel Hollander; 5a. Comment by Pierangelo Garegnani; 5b. A rejoinder by Samuel Hollander; 6. The Hayek-Keynes-Sraffa controversy reconsidered Heinz D. Kurz; 7. The capital theory controversy Edwin Burmeister; 8. Wicksell and Douglas on distribution and marginal productivity theory Christian Bidard; 9. On the probability of reswitching and capital reversing in a two-sector Sraffian model Lynn Mainwaring and Ian Steedman; 9a. Comment by Neri Salvadori; 9b. Comment by Christian Bidard and Lucette Carter; Part IV. Intertemporal Equilibrium Theory and the Problem of Capital: 10. Paradoxes of capital and counterintuitive changes of distribution in an intertemporal equilibrium model Bertram Schefold; 11. Savings, investment, and capital in a system of general intertemporal equilibrium Pierangelo Garegnani.

Critical assessment of the published works of Piero Sraffa. Topics covered explore Sraffa's interpretation of the classical economists; his theory of value and distribution; his critique of partial and general neoclassical equilibrium theory; the problem of capital; and his critique of Hayek's monetary overinvestment theory of the business cycle.