Economic theory and its history : essays in honour of Neri Salvadori

About the Book This collection brings together leading economists from around the world to explore key issues in economic analysis and the history of economic thought. This book deals with important themes in economics in terms of an approach that has its roots in the works of the classical economists from Adam Smith to David Ricardo. The chapters have been inspired by the work of Neri Salvadori, who has made key contributions in various areas including the theory of production, the theory of value and distribution, the theory of economic growth, as well as the theory of renewable and deplorable natural resources. The main themes in this book include production, value and distribution; endogenous economic growth; renewable and exhaustible natural resources; capital and profits; oligopolistic competition; effective demand and capacity utilization; financial regulation; and themes in the history of economic analysis. Several of the contributions are closely related to the works of Neri Salvadori. This is demonstrated with respect to important contemporary topics including the sources of economic growth, the role of exhaustible resources in economic development, the reduction and disposal of waste, the redistribution of income and wealth, and the regulation of an inherently unstable financial sector. All contributions are brand new, original and concise, written by leading exponents in their field of expertise. Together this volume represents an invaluable contribution to economic analysis and the history of economic thought. This book is suitable for those who study economic theory and its history, political economy as well as philosophy. 1. Introduction 2. Personal Reminiscences Heinz D. Kurz Part I Economic growth and income distribution 3. Ownership concentration, industrial agglomeration and welfare distribution Commendatore Pasquale, Kubin Ingrid and Petraglia Carmelo 4. Smithian Growth and Complexity Lavezzi Mario 5. Capacity Utilization, Obsolete Machines and Effective Demand Parrinello Sergio 6. Endogenous Growth and Unemployment: The Experience of Italy Following the Recent Financial Crisis Turnovsky Stephen, Schubert Stefan Part II Resource economics 7. A Ricardian Model of Forestry Freni Giuseppe, Faggian Silvia 8. Choice of Technique Made by an Upstream Policy for Waste Reduction Hosoda Eiji 9. How Should Prices of Production be Interpreted? The Case of Oil Roncaglia Alessandro Part III Capital theory and marginalism 10. The Ghosts in the Dropbox Bidard Christian 11. Sraffa Samuelson Marginalism in the Multi-Primary Factor Case: A Fourth Exploration Burmeister Edwin / Samuelson Paul 12. The Quantity of Labour, the Wage Rate and the Standard System Nell Edward 13. Duality Theory and Full Industry Equilibrium Opocher Arrrigo 14. The ‘Capital-Labour Isoquant’ in the Consumer Good Industry Steedman Ian 15. Distribution and Capital Yagi Takashi Part IV Sraffian themes 16. Pasinetti’s Ricardo after Sraffa. A Reformulation Based on Ricardo’s Early Writings Bellino Enrico 17. Subsistence-cum-surplus Wages versus Gross Wages: A Note Gehrke Christian 18. A Sraffian Approach to Financial Regulation Panico Carlo, Pinto Antonio, Puchet Anyul Martín and Vazquez Suarez Marta 19. On the Instantaneous Life of a Nondurable Input: A Reflection in the Light of Zeno and Cantor Park Man-Seop Part V Imperfect competition 20. Product Differentiation, Kinked Demand and Collusion D’Agata Antonio 21. Unionized Oligopoly, Capacity Choice and Strategic Entry under Bertrand Competition D’Alessandro Simone, Fanti Luciano 22. The Sylos Postulate Reconsidered Signorino Rodolfo Part VI History of economic analysis 23. What’s Left of Malthus? Dutt Amitava 24. Federico Caffè, a Keynesian on the Left Faucci Riccardo 25. What is the Labor Theory of Value and What is it Good for? Foley Duncan 26. Self-Management and Socialism Jossa Bruno 27. Institutions, Economies, Technologies: Two Italian Founders (1821- 1921) Quadrio Curzio Alberto Cover 1 Title 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 List of figures 11 List of tables 13 List of contributors 14 1 Introduction 16 2 Personal reminiscences of a close friend and colleague 25 PART 1 Economic growth and income distribution 34 3 Ownership concentration, industrial agglomeration and welfare distribution 36 4 Smithian growth and complexity 51 5 Capacity utilization, obsolete machines and effective demand 66 6 Endogenous growth and unemployment: the experience of Italy following the recent financial crisis 80 PART 2 Resource economics 102 7 A Ricardian model of forestry 104 8 Choice of technique made by an upstream policy for waste reduction 124 9 How should prices of production be interpreted? The case of oil 146 PART 3 Capital theory and marginalism 160 10 The dropbox and the ghosts 162 11 Sraffa–Samuelson marginalism in the multi-primary-factor case: a fourth exploration 175 12 The quantity of labour, the wage rate and the standard system 179 13 Duality theory and full industry equilibrium: a diagrammatic analysis 200 14 The ‘capital–labour isoquant’ in the consumer good industry 212 15 Distribution and capital 221 PART 4 Sraffian themes 232 16 Pasinetti’s Ricardo after Sraffa: a reformulation based on Ricardo’s ‘early writings’ 234 17 Subsistence-cum-surplus wages versus gross wages: a note 248 18 A Sraffian approach to financial regulation 264 19 On the instantaneous life of a nondurable input: a reflection in the light of Zeno and Cantor 286 PART 5 Imperfect competition 300 20 Product differentiation, kinked demand and collusion 302 21 Unionised oligopoly, capacity choice and strategic entry under Bertrand competition 311 22 The Sylos Postulate reconsidered 333 PART 6 History of economic analysis 352 23 What’s left of Malthus? 354 24 Federico Caffè, a Keynesian on the left 372 25 What is the labour theory of value and what is it good for? 385 26 Self-management and socialism 400 27 Institutions, economies, technologies: two Italian founders (1821–1921) 414 Publications by Neri Salvadori 429 Author Index 440 Subject Index 444 Edited By Giuseppe Freni, Heinz D. Kurz, Andrea Mario Lavezzi And Rodolfo Signorino.