Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Stigler on Ricardo

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
George Stigler

  • 354 Accesses

Abstract

This paper attempts to scrutinize George Stigler’s interpretation of Ricardo’s theory. Like many other marginalists, he assesses Ricardo’s contribution in terms of marginalist theory . This confirms Piero Sraffa’s observation that by the end of the nineteenth century the analytical structure, content and genuine significance of the classical theory had been “submerged and forgotten”. However, Stigler’s textual acuteness allows him to discover irritating elements of Ricardo’s analysis that resist the marginalist interpretation. His irritation can only have been increased by Sraffa’s exposition of Ricardo’s surplus-based theory of profits in volume I of the Ricardo edition. This contradicted a marginal productivity theory of profits . Stigler while praising Sraffa’s edition beyond all measure, refrains however from discussing his interpretation. Things do not change after Sraffa in 1960 publishes a logically consistent formulation of the classical theory of value and distribution. Sraffa’s interpretation challenged Stigler’s ideological position, which the latter, however, did not feel the need, or the possibility, to defend.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 349.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Blaug, M. ([1967] 1997). Economic Theory in Retrospect, 5th edn. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaug, M. (2009). The trade-off between rigor and relevance: Sraffian economics as a case in point. History of Political Economy, 41(2): 219–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breit, R.W. and Spencer, W. (eds.). (1988). Lives of the Laureates: Seven Nobel Economists. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannan, E. ([1893] 1967). A History of the Theories of Production and Distribution in English Political Economy from 1776–1848. London: P.S. King. Reprint 1967. New York: Augustus M. Kelley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dmitriev, V. K. (1974). Economic Essays on Value, Competition and Utility. English translation of a collection of essays published in 1904 in Russian, edited by D. M. Nuti. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dmitriev’s essay on Ricardo’s theory of value was originally published in 1898.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faccarello, G. and Kurz, H. D. (eds.). (2016). Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis, 3 vols. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garegnani, P. (2007). Professor Samuelson on Sraffa and the classical economists. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 14(2): 181–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gehrke, C. (2011). Price of wages: A curious phrase. In R. Ciccone, C. Gehrke, and G. Mongiovi (eds.), Sraffa and Modern Economics, vol. 1. London: Routledge, pp. 405–422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gehrke, C., Kurz, H. D., and Salvadori, N. (2003). Ricardo on agricultural improvements: A note. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 50(3): 291–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagemann, H. (2008). Capital, growth and production disequilibrium: On the employment consequences of new technologies. In R. Scazzieri, A. Sen, and S. Zamagni (eds.), Markets, Money and Capital: Hicksian Economics for the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 346–366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson, T. (1952). Some questions about Ricardo. Economica, 19: 415–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeck, A. and Kurz, H. D. (1983). David Ricardo: Ansichten zur Maschinerie. In H. Hagemann and P. Kalmbach (eds.), Technischer Fortschritt und Arbeitslosigkeit. Frankfurt am Main: Campus, pp. 38–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, H. G. (1948). An error in Ricardo’s exposition of his theory of rent. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 62: 792–793.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight, F. H. (1935). The Ricardian theory of production and distribution. Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 1: 3–25 and 171–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. (2008). Ricardian vice. In W. A. Darity (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 7, 2nd edn. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference, pp. 243–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. (2010). Technical progress, capital accumulation and income distribution in classical economics: Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 17(5): 1183–1222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. (2011). On David Ricardo’s theory of profits: The laws of distribution are “not essentially connected with the doctrine of value”. The History of Economic Thought, 53(1): 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. (2015). David Ricardo: On the art of “elucidating economic principles” in the face of a “labyrinth of difficulties”. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 22(5): 818–851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. (2016a). Economic Thought: A Brief History. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. (2016b). David Ricardo (1772–1823). In G. Faccarello and H. D. Kurz (eds.), Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis, vol. I. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar, pp. 120–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. (2017). Is there a “Ricardian Vice”? And what is its relationship with economic policy ad“vice”? Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 27(1): 91–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. (2018). Power—The bête noire of much of economics. The XXVth Krishna Bharadwaj Memorial Lecture, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 3rd March 2017. Artha Vijnana, 60(4): 319–376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. and Salvadori, N. (1995). Theory of Production: A Long-Period Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, H. D. and Salvadori, N. (2003). Theories of “endogenous” growth in historical perspective. In H. D. Kurz and N. Salvadori, Classical Economics and Modern Theory. London: Routledge, Chapter 6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, A. (1890). Principles of Economics, 1st edn., 1890, 8th edn., 1920. Reprint, reset (1977). London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCann, L. and Perlman, M. (1993). On thinking about Stigler. Economic Journal, 103: 994–1014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M. (2012). The World in the Model: How Economists Work and Think. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Neisser, H. ([1932] 1990). Lohnhöhe und Beschäftigungsgrad im Marktgleichgewicht. Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv. English translation in Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niehans, J. (1990). A History of Economic Theory: Classic Contributions, 1720–1980. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, D. (1975). The Classical Economists. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricardo, D. (1951–1973). The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed. P. Sraffa with the collaboration of M. H. Dobb, 11 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Referred to as Works followed by the volume number and page.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rostow, W. (1990). Theorists of Economic Growth from David Hume to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson, P. A. (1977). Correcting the Ricardo error spotted in Harry Johnson’s maiden paper. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 91: 519–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson, P. A. (1989). Ricardo was right! Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 91(1): 47–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson, P. A. (2000). Sraffa’s hits and misses. In H. D. Kurz (ed.), Critical Essays on Piero Sraffa’s Legacy in Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 111–180.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A. (1912). Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A. (1954). History of Economic Analysis. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaikh, A. (2016). Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solow, R. (2010). Stories about economics and technology. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 17(5), 1113–1126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sraffa, P. (1926). The laws of returns under competitive conditions. Economic Journal, 36: 535–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sraffa, P. (1951). Introduction. In Ricardo, Works I, pp. xiii–lxii.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sraffa, P. (1960). Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1941). Production and Distribution Theories: The Formative Period. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1952). The Ricardian theory of value and distribution. Journal of Political Economy, 60(3): 187–207. Reprinted in Stigler (1965a), pp. 156–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1953). Sraffa’s Ricardo. American Economic Review, 43(3): 586–599. Reprinted in Stigler (1965a), pp. 302–325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1958). Ricardo and the 93% labor theory of value. American Economic Review, 48(3): 357–367. Reprinted in Stigler (1965a), pp. 326–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1965a). Essays in the History of Economics. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1965b). Textual exegesis as a scientific problem. Economica, 32: 447–450. Reprinted in Stigler (1982), pp. 68–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1982). The Economist as Preacher and Other Essays. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1988). Memoirs of an Unregulated Economist. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J. (1990). Ricardo or Hollander? Oxford Economic Papers, 42: 765–768.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Bortkiewicz, L. (1906–1907). Wertrechnung und Preisrechnung im Marxschen System’, three parts. Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, 23: 1–50; 25: 10–51; and 445–488. English translation of pts. 2 and 3 as ‘Value and price in the Marxian system’ in International Economic Papers, 2: 5–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wicksell, K. (1934). Lectures on Political Economy, vol. I. London: George Routledge & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Tony Aspromourgos, Jurriaan Bendien, Christian Bidard, Harry Bloch, Craig Freedman, Christian Gehrke, Harald Hagemann, Geoff Harcourt, Mark Knell, Heinz Rieter, Neri Salvadori, Shigeyoshi Senga, Anwar Shaikh, Yoshinori Shiozawa and Ian Steedman for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Any remaining errors or misconceptions are, of course, entirely my responsibility.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Heinz D. Kurz

Authors
  1. Heinz D. Kurz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heinz D. Kurz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Craig Freedman

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kurz, H.D. (2020). Stigler on Ricardo. In: Freedman, C. (eds) George Stigler. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56815-1_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56815-1_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56814-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56815-1

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation