Duccio Cavalieri

On Some Equilibrium and Disequilibrium Theories of Endogenous Money : A Structuralist View

This paper is intended to be a contribution to a historico-critical analysis of some recent theories of endogenous money supply. Not a systematic survey of the literature on the subject. It is mainly concerned with the internal consistency of the „circuit. theories developed in the 1980.s and early 1990.s and their later reappraisals and adjournments. It deals, inter alia, with some theoretical and practical problems concerning the monetary equilibrium framework of some of such theories, the endogenous or exogenous nature of the supply of money and of its single components, the relative importance of the different functions of money, the distinction between money and bank credit, the „closure. of a monetary circuit and the institutional role of a central bank as a lender of last resort. The author is a non-fundamentalist post-Keynesian monetary theorist. He regards money demand and supply as two strictly connected variables, whose structural interdependence precludes a causal approach to an analysis of the way money enters the circular income flow.

Sull'inseparabilità delle strutture sintattiche nell'analisi classica del valore e della distribuzione

The paper deals with a fundamental issue in the history of economic thought: the alleged separability in the classical analysis of distinct and sequential logical stages. It will be recalled that the contested idea of an analytical separation of the theory of value (relative prices), the theory of production (relative quantities) and the theory of the social distribution of income was initially advanced by Ricardo, in his lost Papers on the Profits of Capital and in his Essay on Profits, but later abandoned, in the third edition of the Principles. It was then reproposed by J.S. Mill, Jevons, Sraffa and Garegnani, and opposed by Malthus, Marshall and Walras. Today a separability thesis cannot be maintained, as it presupposes the existence of a given physical vector of the real wage, a circumstance which is not satisfied in the present world.

Sul sistema teorico del giovane Sraffa

The object of these pages is to revive a critical reflection on the significance of Sraffas early theoretical work in the five-year period running between 1925 to 1930. After identifying the main interpretive issues, an original historiographic hypothesis is formulated and attention is focused on Sraffas thought on the shape of cost curves and its consequences on the relationship between price and quantity produced. Sraffas criticism of Marshalls theory of value was not motivated by reasons of personal convenience, as sometimes has been suggested. He believed that Marshall had severely distorted Ricardos theory of competitive value, by trying to rebuild it in terms of symmetric relations of demand and supply, in the neoclassical language of market equilibrium. Even Sraffas early abandonment of his search on imperfect competition - a major element of discontinuity in his theoretical path - may be traced to analytical and methodological reasons. Realising that his idea to afford the study of the behaviour of an imperfectly competitive firm on the assumption that it was faced with a subjective demand curve was in stark contrast both with the basic premises of an objective theory of value and with his critique of the Marshallian method of partial equilibria, he decided to opt for an entirely different analytical approach to the theory of price.

Epicarmo Corbino, economista liberale neoclassico

This is an analysis of the personality of prof. Epicarmo Corbino (1890-1984), centered on his cultural identity, his vision of economic policy, his way of interpreting the relationship between theory and history and his important activity of politician and statesman. The portrait that emerges is that of an empirical economist and a pugnacious and independent conservative, a direct descendant of the Italian right-wing historical tradition.

Neoliberalism Under Debate

The neoliberal economic and political practice is still worldwide present. But deregulation is no longer very popular. New rules are imposed. Easy consumer credit and excessive issues of financial liabilities are recognized as directly responsible for the crisis. Neoliberal policies ultimately failed to encourage investment, to strengthen productivity and to promote diversification. They did not induce higher economic growth and increased financial stability. They did not succeed in reducing poverty, exploitation and inequalities, in relieving public debt, in lowering the volatility of international capital flows and in sustaining the environment. Almost unbelievably, however, they were able to survive these misadventures. They simply changed their name, from conservatives to libertarians, which sounds much better, and carried on. During the global crisis, merchant banks, insurance companies and big corporations with financial difficulties asked everywhere for state support. And they got it. Bailouts became the norm, bankruptcies were reduced to sporadic exceptions.

Le dimensioni della moneta: una replica

This is the authors reply to an article written by Alberto Zanni on The Dimension of Money, published in this journal (vol 22, no. 2) unfortunately based on a wrong opinion erroneously attributed to the present writer. But the subject of this article has a theoretical interest in itself.

A proposito di marginalismo e socialismo nell'Italia liberale

This is a review-article on a book edited by M. Guidi and L. Michelini on marginalism and socialism in Italy during the liberal age 1870-1925.

Plusvalore e sfruttamento: una risposta

This short paper is a reply to a note published by Prof. Andrea Salanti in the present issue of this journal. The discussion concerns some theoretical questions related to the analysis of surplus value. The author thinks that a correct use of algebra, or of any other formalized language, cannot prove, or disprove, the truthfulness of a cognitive statement. But he does not share Salantis feeling of an inherent inadequacy of all formal schemes to deal in a proper way with the problems posed by the existence of causal links in the real world. Another question discussed in the paper is the alleged lack of significance of the concept of surplus value in a post-Sraffian theoretical system.