Rosario Patalano

The Keynesian Features of Graziani's Monetary Theory of Production and Some Unresolved Issues

Abstract The aim of this article is twofold. First, it seeks to verify the elements of affinity between Grazianis approach to the Monetary Theory of Production and Keynes’ Treatise on Money and his General Theory. It is shown that two important theoretical elements, from the Treatise on Money, enter Grazianis basic schema, namely the view of endogenous money supply and the distribution process. At the same time, uncertainty and aggregate demand—conceived as a crucial variable in the General Theory—can play a significant role in the basic schema of the Monetary Theory of Production. Second, the article sets out a critical reconstruction of Grazianis basic schema emphasising the existence of ‘open issues’– such as bank behaviour and the ‘paradox of profits’—relating to internal and external inconsistencies.

Marx on Public Debt: Fiscal Expropriation and Capital Reproduction

Abstract Marx devoted little attention to the functions of the State (and, particularly, to the role of public debt) in the capitalist system, and in more recent times, little attention has been devoted to this issue on the part of Marxist scholars. Starting from a reconstruction of Marx’s view on this issue, this article aims to analyze the effects of the expansion of public debt on capital reproduction in Marx’s thought and to derive a criterion of public debt sustainability consistent with Marx’s view.

THE GESELL CONNECTION DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION

In the current recession, the proposal of negative nominal interest has received widespread attention, not only in the academic world. The negative interest rate issue was originally developed by Silvio Gesell (1862–1930), a German merchant, self-taught economist, and social reformer. In his main work, The Natural Economic Order , Gesell offered a theoretical basis for the practical implementation of the negative interest rate. This proposal, generally known as the “stamped money plan,” was favorably commented upon by two outstanding twentieth-century economists, Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes, and put into practice during the Great Depression. In this paper I propose a reading of Gesell’s theory of money from the point of view of quantity theory, giving prominence to elements of affinity with Fisher’s monetary theory. This re-examination entails revision of the opinion on the analytical contribution made by Gesell, who was generally tagged as a typical monetary crank, and proves that his place in the history of economic thought is less marginal than previously thought, reinforcing critical appreciation of him.

Introduction: Antonio Serra and the Economics of Good Government

In the great Harvard economist Joseph A. Schumpeter’s posthumously published masterwork History of Economic Analysis, he “credited” the Southern Italian lawyer and economic writer Antonio Serra (f. 1613) with being “the first to compose a scientific treatise … on Economic Principles and Policy”.1 What follows is the first ever anthology of essays dedicated to Serra, who, though long having been eulogized in the historiography of economics as a thinker of precocious sophistication, has seldom received sustained attention from scholars, especially outside of Italy. In fact, no monograph-length study has ever been dedicated to him in any language, and he remains a dark horse in the historiography of political economy – often quoted, but seldom understood or appreciated in his historical context. Partly, this might be because of the many mysteries surrounding the man and his work.

Nation-World: Autarky and Geo-economics in Montchrétien’s Traicté

In his Traicte de l’oeconomie politique (1615), Antoine de Montchretien proposed a model of development, based on an autarkic economy, formulating analytical and political alternative to increasing integration of world trade, which in the seventeenth century was under Dutch and English hegemony. Montchretien’s response to the problem of world trade integration focused on the establishment of a French colonial empire, completely self-sufficient and closed to international trade. Montchretien proposed an “economic nationalism” connecting politics and the economy, in a perspective that would be called geo-economic, pitting nationalism against globalization to avoid the failure in international trade competition that could threaten the political survival and independence of the country’s national interests. This paper explores the analytical frameworks of Montchretien’s autarkic model, which constitutes an exception in the 17th century literature, which is focused on the idea of commercial supremacy and the gains of trade in a context of international competition.

The Legacy of Mathématique Sociale in Italy and Ricardian Economics: The Case of Francesco Fuoco

This article discusses the contribution made by Francesco Fuoco (1774–1841) to the methodological debate in the early nineteenth century. In opposition to Say’s view, Fuoco defended the validity of the deductive method in economic analysis, upholding the mathematique sociale tradition. This perspective characterizes his main work, Saggi economici (1825–27), in which he expounded a systematic view of economic theory and synthesized, within the framework of deductive methodology, a typical subjectivist theory of value, drawn from Condillac, with the new Ricardian theory of distribution. As he engaged in defense of the deductive nature of economic analysis, Fuoco found confirmation of the validity of the mathematique sociale tradition in the Ricardian “new theory” of rent. In this analytical context, Fuoco’s original contribution lay in the importance that he assigned to the money function in the capitalist economy.

Un sistema imperfetto: il Gold Standard e i suoi critici (1870-1914)

Un sistema imperfetto: il Gold Standard e i suoi critici (1870-1914) - This paper examines the debate on the gold standard from 1870 to 1914. In this period the gold standard becomes the world’s monetary regime, but this political success is disputed by a considerable part of the coeval economic theory. The different critical positions showed the imperfections of the gold standard and the critical economists proposed several solutions. The most radical solutions wished a return to the bimetallic regime or the adoption of experimental system, like the symmetallism proposed by Marshall. Other critical positions were direct towards attempts of reforms, which leaded to the definition of the principles of the gold exchange standard, destined later on to regulate, without success, the international monetary regime after the World War One, and then to be reproposed at the Bretton Woods Conference and to become the basis of a long period of monetary stability.