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Capital Theory, the Surplus Approach, and Effective Demand

An Alternative Framework for the Analysis of Value, Distribution and Output Levels

  • Book
  • Jun 2024

Overview

Authors:
  1. Pierangelo Garegnani

    1. Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Editors:
  1. Roberto Ciccone

    1. Department of Economics, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Features Pierangelo Garegnani’s works on the classical theory of value and distribution
  • Includes a critique of the marginalist theory and a reappraisal of the classical theory of distribution
  • Presents for the first time Garegnani’s unpublished doctoral thesis in English

Part of the book series: Springer Studies in the History of Economic Thought (SSHET)

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Keywords

  • Marginalist theory of distribution
  • Neoclassical theory of distribution
  • Piero Sraffa
  • Classical political economy
  • Keynesian principle of effective demand
  • History of economics
  • capital critique of marginalist theory
  • Sraffian economics

About this book

This book presents a representative set of Pierangelo Garegnani’s (1930-2011) works on the theory of value and distribution. It features a selection of essays, chosen by Garegnani himself, concerning central aspects of his work: first and foremost, the continuation and development of Piero Sraffa's effort to elaborate an alternative to the dominance of marginalist thought on the theory of value and distribution.  Garegnani articulates and extends Sraffa’s contribution in two directions: the critique of marginalist theory with respect to the treatment of capital, and the reappraisal of the surplus approach to distribution proper to classical political economy. In turn, these two strands of analysis are combined in Garegnani’s project to make the Keynesian principle of effective demand more robust and general by dropping the unnecessary elements of marginalism and linking it to the classical explanation of distribution. 

This book reveals how Garegnani’s contribution has advanced the degree of theoretical elaboration for several issues that fall within the developmental paths of economic analysis opened by Sraffa and Keynes. It begins with a comprehensive introduction in which Garegnani illustrates the conceptual path that links the contributions presented here. The starting point of this intellectual journey is Garegnani’s previously unpublished doctoral thesis ‘A Problem in the Theory of Distribution from Ricardo to Wicksell,’ prepared at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Piero Sraffa and Maurice Dobb, which is followed by various essays selected by Garegnani on the critique of marginalist theories, the classical approach to value and distribution, and the role of aggregate demand for the long-run trends of output and capital accumulation. 

The book is a must-read for all scholars interested in the resumption and development of the classical approach, as well as economic theory in general, and the history of economicthought. 


 

Authors, Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Economics, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

    Roberto Ciccone

  • Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

    Pierangelo Garegnani

About the editor

Pierangelo Garegnani (1930-2011), a pupil of Piero Sraffa at the University of Cambridge (UK), was one of the most prolific and innovative Italian economists. He was among the main exponents of the school which, starting from Sraffa’s contributions, developed the ‘capital critique’ of marginalist theory and ushered in the modern revival of approaches used by classical English economists.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Capital Theory, the Surplus Approach, and Effective Demand

  • Book Subtitle: An Alternative Framework for the Analysis of Value, Distribution and Output Levels

  • Authors: Pierangelo Garegnani

  • Editors: Roberto Ciccone

  • Series Title: Springer Studies in the History of Economic Thought

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

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

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-23642-6Due: 20 June 2024

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-23645-7Due: 20 June 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-23643-3Due: 20 June 2024

  • Series ISSN: 2662-6098

  • Series E-ISSN: 2662-6101

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXXIV, 511

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