Heinrich Bortis

Institutions, behaviour and economic theory : a contribution to classical-Keynesian political economy

Preface Acknowledgements Glossary of symbols 1. iNTRODUCTION 2. sOME basic CONCEPTS AND ISSUES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 3. SOME BASIC ISSUES IN POLITICAL ECONOMY 4. TOWARDS A COHERENT SYSTEM OF POLITICAL ECONOMY 5. CLASSICAL-KEYNESIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY AND NEOCLASSICAL ECONOMICS 6. AN ALTERNATIVE THEORY OF ECONOMIC POLICY 7. POLITICAL ECONOMY IN A WIDER CONTEXT References Index.

Structural economic dynamics and technical progress in a pure labour economy

Abstract This paper attempts a methodological appraisal of Luigi Pasinettis recent contribution to the analysis of structural economic dynamics. After briefly reviewing the content of Pasinettis volume, the author presents a general consideration on the method employed. The relationship between Pasinettis approach to the analysis of economic growth and structural change on the one hand, and neoclassical theory, on the other, is then briefly considered. Finally, the model of a ‘pure labour’ economy is assessed, and the procedure of abstraction to be used in investigating structural dynamics is discussed. In particular, it is argued that Pasinettis method is based upon a realist approach, and that attention is focused upon general principles rather than empirical regularities derived from observation. In this connection, Smiths and Ricardos treatments of a ‘pure labour’ economy are considered, and it is argued that they are based upon alternative simplifying assumptions: exclusion of capital goods in Smiths case, uniform ratios of capital to labour in Ricardos case. The author maintains that a Ricardian-type pure labour economy may enhance the plausibility of Pasinettis approach to structural dynamics, and facilitate possible extensions.

Reflections on the Significance of the Labour Theory of Value in Pasinetti’s Natural System

Luigi Pasinetti’s Structural Change and Economic Growth is a remarkable piece of economic theory which will have a lasting impact on the future development of political economy. Although the subtitle of this work, A theoretical essay on the dynamics of the wealth of nations, clearly establishes a link with Adam Smith, the main purpose of the book is to adapt David Ricardo to modern times, thus laying the analytical foundations for reestablishing the classical approach within economic theory (see on this also Roncaglia, 1988). Given this, Pasinetti (1981) is unusual both with respect to content and to method. With respect to content, because the book has grown out in a straightforward way of classical political economy and constitutes as such an unfamiliar element in a neoclassical world. The method, which is in fact Sraffa’s and Ricardo’s, is also unusual because of the very high degree of abstraction which brings out analytical results with great clarity; in addition, abstraction is of a particular kind in that production is put to the fore whilst exchange, considered to be secondary, is left aside. Consequently, the ‘theoretical scheme of a natural economic system’ (Pasinetti, 1981, p. 128) has been received with some astonishment. Among others, three features of the natural system have caused considerable surprise, i.e. the important role played by the labour theory of value; the fact that production, not exchange, constitutes the conceptual starting point in Pasinetti’s system; and, finally, that this system should be a natural one, a term about which queries immediately arose.

Piero Sraffa and the revival of classical political economy

The first part of this article focuses on Roncaglia’s presentation of Piero Sraffa’s work and its significance for economic theory. The second part takes up some issues of content, method and interpretation of this work. It is argued that Sraffa must be put into a wider context to link him with Keynes. Sraffa and Keynes constitute the basis for elaborating a classical‐Keynesian system of political economy on a platform provided by Pasinetti’s vertically integrated labour model.

Marshall, the Keynesian revolution and Sraffa's significance

Based on Geoffrey Harcourts Palgrave volumes, this review article attempts to picture how, in a Cambridge environment, Keyness fragmentary monetary theory of production grew organically out of Marshalls equally fragmentary monetary theory of exchange. The dangers associated with Keyness close links with Marshall are alluded to. Indeed, without taking account of the classical spirit of Sraffas work, Keyness monetary theory may quite easily be integrated into the Marshallian‐neoclassical framework of analysis. However, theorising, not literally, but in the spirit of Keynes and Sraffa, within a Ricardian‐Pasinettian framework of vertical integration, opens the way to a Classical‐Keynesian monetary theory of production.

Some considerations on structure and change

Abstract This note attempts to deal with some fundamentals associated with structural change. Two basic approaches are considered: the exchange and the production approach. The existence and the tendency towards a long-period equilibrium are crucial for discriminating between these devices. For theoretical and historical reasons the production approach is found to be more appropriate to deal with structural change. Subsequently, two production models are mentioned: the Leontiev–Sraffa horizontal model and Pasinetti’s vertically integrated model. The former is well suited to capture given structures, the latter represents an ingenious and very simple approach to deal with structural change. On the basis of the vertically integrated model, proportion and scale aspects of economic structures may be considered.

Money and Inflation – A New Macroeconomic Analysis

Presents a review of Money and Inflation – A New Macroeconomic Analysis (Sergio Rossi (with a Foreword by Mauro Baranzini and Alvaro Cencini) Edward Elgar Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA 2001 li + 238 pp.)

Phyllis Deane (1918–2012)

Phyllis Deane’s academic achievement starts from groundwork on colonial social accounting, goes through economic history—The First Industrial Revolution most importantly—on to the history of economic ideas and, finally, down to fundamental issues regarding economic science and political economy, thus opening the way to new developments in economic theory. Deane was an excellent and efficient organiser. She edited the Economic Journal from 1968 to 1975, and was President of the Royal Economic Society in 1980–1982. For many years, she represented the Society on the Council of the Economic History Society. She was an active Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge University, from 1961, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1980.

Piero Sraffa and Shackle’s Years of High Theory: Sraffa’s Significance in the History of Economic Theories

In the course of Shackle’s Years of High Theory 1926–1939 [–1960] a twin revolution took place in economic theory, associated with the names of Maynard Keynes and Piero Sraffa (Shackle, 1967).1 In this chapter three issues related to this revolution are considered. First, some remarks are made on the making and the nature of the Sraffian revolution. In the second place, the relation between the Sraffian and the Keynesian revolution is briefly dealt with. The third section is about the significance of Piero Sraffa for modern political economy. The chapter begins with some general remarks related to Sraffa and his work.