On Changes in the Composition of Output

Abstract

It has often been remarked that ‘demand’ is missing from the Sraffa system. If the level and composition of output change, the input-output coefficients change so that there seems to be no room for a consideration of demand. If, on the other hand, distribution is given and there are constant returns to scale, prices are determined independently of the levels of output in the different sectors. It would then seem that demand conditions can be freely introduced, but they only fix the quantities. The latter case can clearly only serve as an introduction; yet it is regarded as the main case by neoclassical interpreters.

Paper presented at the Conference on ‘Sraffa’s Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities after 25 Years’, Florence (August, 1985). I should like to thank G. Orosel, P. Garegnani, S. Parrinello and others for helpful comments. First published in Political Economy, Studies in the Surplus Approach 1 (1985), pp. 105–42.