Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter One The Reconstruction of an Alternative Economic Thought: Some Premises
- Chapter Two Reflections on Unity and Diversity, the Market and Economic Policy
- Chapter Three Ending Laissez-Faire Finance
- Chapter Four Democracy in Crisis: So What's New?
- Chapter Five The Democracy of Ideas: J. S. Mill, Liberalism and the Economic Debate
- Chapter Six Turgot and the Division of Labor
- Chapter Seven Agricultural Surplus and the Means of Production
- Chapter Eight The Role of Sraffa Prices in Post-Keynesian Pricing Theory
- Chapter Nine Classical Underconsumption Theories Reassessed
- Chapter Ten On the “Photograph” Interpretation of Piero Sraffa's Production Equations: A View from the Sraffa Archive
- Chapter Eleven On the Earliest Formulations of Sraffa's Equations
- Chapter Twelve Normal and Degenerate Solutions of the Walras-Morishima Model
- Chapter Thirteen Trading in the “Devil's Metal”: Keynes's Speculation and Investment in Tin (1921–46)
- Chapter Fourteen The Oil Question, the Prices of Production and a Metaphor
- Chapter Fifteen Europe and Italy: Expansionary Austerity and Expansionary Precariousness
- Chapter Sixteen Adam Smith and the Neophysiocrats: War of Ideas in Spain (1800–4)
- Bibliography
- List of Contributors
- Index
Preface
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter One The Reconstruction of an Alternative Economic Thought: Some Premises
- Chapter Two Reflections on Unity and Diversity, the Market and Economic Policy
- Chapter Three Ending Laissez-Faire Finance
- Chapter Four Democracy in Crisis: So What's New?
- Chapter Five The Democracy of Ideas: J. S. Mill, Liberalism and the Economic Debate
- Chapter Six Turgot and the Division of Labor
- Chapter Seven Agricultural Surplus and the Means of Production
- Chapter Eight The Role of Sraffa Prices in Post-Keynesian Pricing Theory
- Chapter Nine Classical Underconsumption Theories Reassessed
- Chapter Ten On the “Photograph” Interpretation of Piero Sraffa's Production Equations: A View from the Sraffa Archive
- Chapter Eleven On the Earliest Formulations of Sraffa's Equations
- Chapter Twelve Normal and Degenerate Solutions of the Walras-Morishima Model
- Chapter Thirteen Trading in the “Devil's Metal”: Keynes's Speculation and Investment in Tin (1921–46)
- Chapter Fourteen The Oil Question, the Prices of Production and a Metaphor
- Chapter Fifteen Europe and Italy: Expansionary Austerity and Expansionary Precariousness
- Chapter Sixteen Adam Smith and the Neophysiocrats: War of Ideas in Spain (1800–4)
- Bibliography
- List of Contributors
- Index
Summary
This collection of essays provides a tribute to Alessandro Roncaglia, one of the most important representatives of what has come to be a threatened species: the classical political economist.
His work has provided insight into the joint journey of economic theory with economic history and its application to economic policy related to both the past and the present problems of an evolving economy.
While economic history serves the classical economist as insight into the diverse theoretical development underpinning of economic policy debates, the focus is always on the objective of understanding the economy in which he/ she lives and works. The classical economist is thus bound to think that economic theory is “historically conditioned” (Sylos Labini, 2005): as social systems evolve, the appropriate theory to represent a certain phenomenon must evolve too. Therefore, plurality in methods, including history of economic thought, must be a deliberate choice.
As Salvatore Biasco stresses in his contribution to this volume,
At the base of a nonmainstream way of looking at the economy, from a descriptive and normative perspective, cannot be but social complexity, uncertainty and innovative dynamics. Through these lenses, the aggregate behaviour of the economy is studied as determined by constantly evolving endogenous events, which are fed by a number of driving forces: unstable and potentially explosive relationships; nondeterministic developments; a financial system closely interconnected to the real economy but also able to acquire an autonomous dimension; and a social dynamic that changes in parallel to the whole process and that at the same time affects it.
These contributions in honor of Roncaglia's work follow in this tradition, dealing with themes that have characterized his work or that represent expressions of his personality, his interests and method. Geoffrey Harcourt, Heinz Kurz, Nerio Naldi and Neri Salvadori all deal with one of Roncaglia's major contributions to classical economics, that is, the presentation, interpretation and extension of Piero Sraffa's work on the classical theory of prices. Marcella Corsi, Carlo D'ippoliti, Peter Groenewegen, Cosimo Perrotta, Alfonso Sanchez and Gianni Vaggi all provide essays reflecting the great legacy of classical economists and the interpretation of their work, a permanent source of inspiration for Roncaglia.
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- Information
- Classical Economics TodayEssays in Honor of Alessandro Roncaglia, pp. ix - xPublisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2018