Abstract
In this chapter, I will attempt to reconstitute the epistemological trajectory that began with Ricardo’s theory of differential rent and led to Sraffa’s work and the Cambridge controversy. According to Ricardo’s theory, capital is conceived as a heterogeneous factor of production. Contrarily, Marshall’s reading of the Ricardian theory is based on a homogeneous conception of capital. I will highlight Marshall’s reading contradiction and demonstrate, consequently, why Ricardo cannot be conceived as the precursor of the marginalist neoclassical school.
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
Notes
- 1.
Not only Sraffa but also Keynes had already begun to develop such an analysis. See Rotheim (1988).
- 2.
For this reason, in his growth model, Solow (1956) reasons from an economy that produces a single good.
- 3.
“Advances” is used in the sense employed by Quesnay.
- 4.
Kalecki (1990, p. 83) generalizes this hypothesis: he claims that in the industry, as the firm does not use its entire production capacity, marginal costs are constant.
- 5.
Sraffa (1960, pp. 238, 239) comes to this conclusion.
- 6.
This is the same case studied by Keynes (GT, p. 119).
- 7.
The parallel with the analysis made by Keynes in his GT is obvious; in this regard, see Pasinetti (1997). In the Keynesian analysis, various qualities of capital operate during the same period.
- 8.
Such mechanism will be demonstrated in the next chapter.
References
Baumol, W.J. 1982. Contestable Markets: An Uprising in the Theory of Industry Structure. American Economic Review 72 (1): 1–15.
Bidard, Christian. 2014. The Ricardian Rent Theory Two Centuries After. Document de travail Working Paper 2014-54, Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense.
Blaug, Mark. 1992. The Methodology of Economics or How Economists Explain, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dockès, Pierre. 1971. Introduction. In Des principes de l’économie politique et de l’impôt, ed. Ricardo David. Paris: Flammarion.
Dvoskin, Ariel, and Saverio M. Fratini. 2016. On the Samuelson-Etula Master Function and the Capital Controversy. The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 23 (6): 1032–1058. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2016.1186920.
Felipe, Jesus, and J.S.L. McCombie. 2005. How Sound Are the Foundations of the Aggregate Production Function? Eastern Economic Journal 31 (3) (Summer): 467–488.
Garegnani, Pierangelo. 1980. Sobre a teoria da distribuição e do valor em Marx e nos economistas clássicos. Progresso técnico e teoria econômica. São Paulo: Hucitec-Unicamp.
Gregory, Christopher A. 1997. Political Economy, Household Economy and the Price of Land: Towards a Decolonization of Social Sciences Imperialism. In Capital Controversy, Post-Keynesian Economics and the History of Economic Thought: Essays in Honour of Geoff Harcourt Volume One, ed. Philip Arestis, Gabriel Palma, and Malcolm Sawyer. London and New York: Routledge.
Harcourt, G.C. 1972. Some Cambridge Controversies in the Theory of Capital. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jessua, Claude. 1991. Histoire de la théorie économique. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Kaldor, Nicholas. 1972. The Irrelevance of Equilibrium Economics. Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society 82 (328) (December): 1237–1255. Handle: RePEc:ecj:econjl:v:8.
Kalecki, Michal. 1990 [1939]. Crescimento e ciclo das economias capitalistas. São Paulo: Hucitec.
Keynes, John Maynard. 2009 [1936]. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. New York: Classic Books America.
Marcuzzo, Maria Cristina, and Rosselli Annalisa. 2011. Sraffa and His Arguments Against ‘Marginism’. Cambridge Journal of Economics 35: 219–231.
Marshall, Alfred. 1920. Principles of Economics, 8th ed. London: Macmillan.
Martins, Nuno Ornela. 2013. The Cambridge Contribution to the Revival of Classical Political Economy. London and New York: Routledge.
Pasinetti, Luigi L. 1997. The Marginal Efficiency of Investment. A “Second Edition” of the General Theory—Vol. 1, ed. G.C. Harcourt and P.A. Riach, 198–218. London and New York: Routledge.
Ricardo, David. 1821. On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 3rd ed. Ontario: Batoche Book 2001.
Robinson, Joan. 1953–1954. The Production Function and the Theory of Capital. Review of Economic Studies xxi: 81–106.
Rotheim, Roy J. 1988. Keynes and the Marginalist Theory of Distribution. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 20 (3) (Spring): 355–387.
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1983 [1954]. Histoire de l’analyse économique. L’âge classique—II. Paris: Gallimard.
Solow, Robert. 1956. A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 70: 65–94.
Sraffa, Piero. 1925. Sulle relazioni fracosto e quantitá prodotta. Annali di Ecónomia II (1): 277–328.
———. 1926. The Laws of Returns Under Competitive Conditions. The Economic Journal 36 (144) (December): 535–550.
———. 1972 [1960]. Produção de Mercadorias por Meio de Mercadorias. Prelúdio para uma Crítica da Teoria Econômica. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores.
West, Edward. 1815. The Application of Capital to Land, ed. Jacob H. Hollander. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Herscovici, A. (2019). Theory of Differential Rent and Capital Heterogeneity: A Neo-Ricardian Analysis. In: Essays on the Historicity of Capital. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14838-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14838-6_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-14837-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-14838-6
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)