Abstract
This chapter aims to show how a true ‘revolution’ in economic theory during the last century can be attributed jointly to Sraffa and Keynes. Despite following different research paths, both went deeply into the foundations of established economic theory, to the point of subverting, within their own framework, traditional ways of thinking about and representing the functioning of an economic system. We will also reflect on the persistence, despite Keynes’s and Sraffa’s corrosive critiques, of the very uncomfortable state of contemporary economic theory.
We are grateful to an anonymous referee for valuable comments on an earlier version.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arrow, K.J. and Debreu, G. (1954) ‘Existence of an equilibrium for a competitive economy’, Econometrica, July: 265–90.
Birolo, A., Foley, D., Kurz, H.D., Schefold, B. and Steedman, I. (eds) (2010) Production, Distribution and Trade: Alternative Perspectives (London: Routledge).
Chiodi, G. (1992) ‘On Sraffa’s notion of viability’, Studi Economici, 46: 5–23.
Chiodi, G. (1998) ‘On non-self-replacing states’, Metroeconomica, February: 97–107.
Chiodi, G. (2010) ‘The Means of Subsistence and the Notion of “Viability” in Sraffa’s Surplus Approach’, in S. Zambelli (ed.), Computable, Constructive and Behavioural Economic Dynamics. Essays in Honour of Kumaraswamy (Vela) Velupillai (London: Routledge): pp. 318–30.
Chiodi, G. and Ditta, L. (2004) ‘Economia e processi di sviluppo: la sorprendente lezione di Vianna Moog’, in Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, 74: 12–36.
Chiodi, G. and Ditta, L. (2010) ‘Can Sraffa Point Us to a Better Future? A Comment on Mainwaring’, in A. Birolo, D. Foley, H.D. Kurz, B. Schefold, I. Steedman (eds), Production, Distribution and Trade: Alternative Perspectives (London: Routledge): pp. 136–40.
Cohen, J. and Rogers, J. (eds) (2001) What’s Wrong with the Free Lunch? (Boston: Beacon Press).
Debreu, G. (1959) Theory of Value. An Axiomatic Analysis of Economic Equilibrium (New Haven and London: Yale University Press).
Garegnani, P. (1970) ‘Heterogeneous capital, the production function and the theory of distribution’, Review of Economic Studies, XXXVII: 407–36.
Garegnani, P. (1984) ‘Value and distribution in the classical economists and Marx’, Oxford Economic Papers, June: 291–325.
Graaff, J. de V. (1957) Theoretical Welfare Economics (repr. 1967) (London: Cambridge University Press).
Hicks, J.R. (1939) Value and Capital. An Inquiry into some Fundamental Principles of Economic Theory (London: Oxford University Press, 2nd edn (1946)).
Hicks, J.R. (1959) ‘A Manifesto’, in J.R. Hicks (1981) Wealth and Welfare. Collected Essays on Economic Theory, Vol. I (Oxford: Basil Blackwell): pp. 135–41.
Hicks, J.R. (1981) Wealth and Welfare. Collected Essays on Economic Theory, Vol. I (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).
Hicks, J.R. (1983a) ‘A Discipline not a Science’, in J.R. Hicks (1983b) Classics and Moderns, Vol. III (Oxford: Basil Blackwell): pp. 365–75.
Hicks, J.R. (1983b) Classics and Moderns, Vol. III (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).
Keynes, J.M. (1972 [1931]) Essays in Persuasion (London and Basingstoke: Macmillan).
Keynes, J.M. (1936) The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd).
Leontief, W.W. (1941) The Structure of American Economy, 1919–1939 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Mainwaring, L. (2010) ‘Can Sraffa Point Us to a Better Future?’, in A. Birolo, D. Foley, H.D. Kurz, B. Schefold and I. Steedman (eds), Production, Distribution and Trade: Alternative Perspectives (London: Routledge): pp. 119–35.
Marx, K. (1973 [1932]) Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, edited with an introduction by D.J. Struik (London: Lawrence & Wishart).
Marx, K. (1974 [1867]) Capital, Vol. I, Frederick Engels (ed.) (London: Lawrence & Wishart).
Moog, V. (1964 [1954]) Bandeirantes and Pioneers, trans. from the Portuguese by L.L. Barrett, with an Introduction by A.A. Berle (New York: George Braziller).
Neisser, H. (1932) ‘Lohnhöhe und beschäftigungsgrad im marktgleichgewicht’, Weltwirtsch. Arch., 36: 413–55.
Pasinetti, L.L. (1977) Lectures on the Theory of Production (London and Basingstoke: Macmillan Press).
Pasinetti, L.L. (2000) ‘Critique of the neoclassical theory of growth and distribution’, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, December: 383–431.
Pasinetti, L.L. (2007) Keynes and the Cambridge Keynesians (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Pearson, H.W. (1971 [1957]) ‘The Economy Has No Surplus: A Critique of A Theory of Development’, in K. Polanyi, C.M. Arensberg and H.W. Pearson (eds), Trade and Market in the Early Empire. Economies in History and Theory (Chicago: Gateway Edition, Henry Regnery Company): pp. 320–41.
Pigou, A. C. (1920) The Economics of Welfare (London: Macmillan).
Polanyi, K. (1971 [1957]) ‘Aristotle Discovers the Economy’, in K. Polanyi, C.M. Arensberg and H.W. Pearson (eds), Trade and Market in the Early Empire. Economies in History and Theory (Chicago: Gateway Edition, Henry Regnery Company): pp. 64–94.
Polanyi, K., Arensberg, C.M. and Pearson, H.W. (eds) (1971 [1957]) Trade and Market in the Early Empire. Economies in History and Theory (Chicago: Gateway Edition, Henry Regnery Company).
Putnam, H. (2003) ‘For ethics and economics without the dichotomy’, Review of Political Economy, July: 395–412.
Ricardo, D. (1970 [1817]) On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, P. Sraffa (ed.) (London: Cambridge University Press).
Robbins, L. (1932) An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (London: Macmillan & Co.), 2nd edn (1935).
Sen, A. (1967) ‘The nature and classes of prescriptive judgements’, Philosophical Quarterly, 17(66), January: 46–62.
Sen, A. (1984) ‘The living standard’, Oxford Economic Papers, November: 74–90.
Sen, A. (1987) On Ethics and Economics (Oxford: Blackwell).
Shackle, G.L.S. (1973) ‘Keynes and today’s establishment in economic theory: a view’, Journal of Economic Literature, June: 516–19.
Smith, A. (1970 [1776]) The Wealth of Nations (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd).
Sraffa, P. (1960) Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities. Prelude to a Critique of Economic Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Stabile, D.R. (2008) The Living Wage (Cheltenham and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar).
Van Parijs, P. (ed.) (1992) Arguing for Basic Income. Ethical Foundations for a Radical Reform (London & New York: Verso).
Van Parijs, P. (1995) Real Freedom for All (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Van Parijs, P. (2001) ‘A Basic Income for All’, in J. Cohen, J. Rogers (eds) What’s Wrong with the Free Lunch? (Boston: Beacon Press): pp. 3–26.
von Neumann, J. (1937) ‘Über ein Ökonomisches Gleichungssystem und eine Verallgemeinerung des Brouwerschen Fixpunktsatzes’, in K. Menger (ed.), Ergebnisse eines Mathematischen Kolloquiums (1935–1936), Heft 8 (Leipzig und Wien: Franz Deuticke), pp. 73–83; English trans. in Review of Economic Studies, vol. 13(1945): 1–9.
von Stackelberg, H. (1933) ‘Zwei kritische bemerkurgen zur preistheorie Gustav Cassel’, Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 4: 456–72.
Wald, A. (1933–34) ‘Über die Eindeutige Positive Lösbarkeit der Neuen Produktionsgleichungen (I)’, in K. Menger (ed.) Ergebnisse eines Mathematischen Kolloquiums, Heft 6 (Leipzig und Wien: Franz Deuticke) (1935): pp. 12–18.
Wald, A. (1934–35) ‘Über die Produktionsgleichungen der Ökonomischen Wertlehre (II)’, in K. Menger (ed.), Ergebnisse eines Mathematischen Kolloquiums, Heft 7, Leipzig und Wien: Franz Deuticke) (1936): pp. 1–6.
Walsh, V. (2000) ‘Smith after Sen’, Review of Political Economy, 12: 5–25.
Zambelli, S. (ed.) (2010) Computable, Constructive and Behavioural Economic Dynamics. Essays in Honour of Kumaraswamy (Vela) Velupillai, (London: Routledge).
Zeuthen, F.L.B. (1933) ‘Das prinzip der knappheit technische kombination und ökonomische qualität’, Zeitschrift für Nationalökonomie, 4: 1–24.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Guglielmo Chiodi and Leonardo Ditta
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chiodi, G., Ditta, L. (2013). Sraffa and Keynes: Two Ways of Making a ‘Revolution’ in Economic Theory. In: Levrero, E.S., Palumbo, A., Stirati, A. (eds) Sraffa and the Reconstruction of Economic Theory: Volume One. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137316837_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137316837_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-34697-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31683-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)