A discussion with Vernon Smith on the Classics, Marx, and Sraffa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13133/2037-3643/17973Keywords:
Vernon Smith, Neoclassical approach, Classical approach, Sraffa, price discovery, theory of pricesAbstract
This paper is a revised version of a discussion with Nobel laureate Vernon Smith on the limits of neoclassical theory and on the opportunity to recover the alternative approach of classical economists and Marx. Vernon Smith is certainly right to insist on the heuristic force of the classical concept of “price discovery”. However, his interpretation of the classical theory of prices remains in many respects undetermined, unless it is clearly anchored to Sraffa.
References
Acemoglu D. and Brancaccio E. (2021), “Regulate the market”, Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, 1 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEvQb9IFAME
Arrow K.J. (1951), “Alternative Proof of the Substitution Theorem for Leontief Models in the General Case”, in Koopmans T.C. (ed.), Activity Analysis of Production and Allocation (pp. 155-164), New York: Wiley.
Arrow K.J. and Debreu G. (1954), “Existence of an Equilibrium for a Competitive Economy”, Econometrica, 22 (3), pp. 265-290.
Bellino E. and Serrano F. (2018), “Gravitation of market prices towards normal prices: some new results”, Contributions to Political Economy, 37 (1), pp. 25-64.
Böhm-Bawerk E. von (1889), Kapital und Kapitalzins. Zweite Abteilung: Positive Theories des Kapitales, Innsbruck: Wagner.
Blanchard O. and Brancaccio E. (2019), “Crisis and revolution in economic theory and policy: A debate”, Review of Political Economy, 31 (2), pp. 271-287.
Brancaccio E. (2010), “On the impossibility of reducing the surplus approach to a neo-classical ‘special case’: A criticism of Hahn in a Solowian context”, Review of Political Economy, 22 (3), pp. 405-418.
Brancaccio E. (2021), “Sraffa dopo Graziani”, Il Ponte, 5, September-October.
Brancaccio E. and Bracci G. (2019), Il discorso del potere. Il premio Nobel per l’economia tra scienza, ideologia e politica, Milan: Il Saggiatore.
Brancaccio E. and Califano A. (2022), Anti-Blanchard Macroeconomics. A comparative approach, 2nd ed, Cheltenham (UK): Edward Elgar Publishing.
Brancaccio E. and De Cristofaro F. (2022), “In Praise of ‘general laws’ of Capitalism: Notes from a debate with Daron Acemoglu” Review of Political Economy, published online 5 March, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09538259.2022.2037930.
Brancaccio E. and Suppa D. (2018), “The ‘solvency rule’ of the central banker in a monetary scheme of reproduction”, Bulletin of Political Economy, 1, pp. 77-98.
Brancaccio E., Gallegati M. and Giammetti R. (2021), “Neoclassical influences in agent-based literature: A systematic review”, Journal of Economic Surveys, 36 (2), pp. 350-385.
Caminati M. and Petri F. (eds.) (1990), “Convergence to long-period positions”, Political economy: Studies in the surplus approach, 6, (1-2).
Congiu L. and Moscati I. (2022), “A review of nudges: Definitions, justifications, effectiveness”, Journal of Economic Surveys, 36 (1), pp. 188-213.
Dal Pont Legrand M., Cioni M., Petrovich E. and Baccini A. (2022), “Is there cross-fertilization in macroeconomics? A quantitative exploration of the interactions between DSGE and Macro Agent-Based Models”, GREDEG Working Papers Series, n. 25, Valbonne: GREDEG.
D’Ippoliti C. (2018), “Theories of prices and alternative economic paradigms”, in Tae-Hee J., Chester L., D’Ippoliti C. (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Heterodox Economics. Theoryzing, Analyzing, and Transforming Capitalism (pp. 112-126), Abingdon: Routledge.
Eatwell J. and Milgate M. (eds.) (1983), Keynes’s Economics and the Theory of Value and Distribution, London and New York: Duckworth and Oxford University Press.
Garegnani P. (1976), “On a change in the notion of equilibrium in recent work on value and distribution: A comment on Samuelson”, in Brown M., Sato K. and Zarembka P. (eds.), Essays in Modern Capital Theory (pp. 25-45), Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing.
Garegnani P. (1990) “Sraffa: Classical versus marginalist analysis” and reply to discussants, in Bharadwaj K. and Schefold B. (eds.), Essays on Piero Sraffa. Critical Perpectives on the Revival of Classical Theory (pp. 112-140), London: Unwin Hyman.
Hayek F.A. (1931), Prices and Production, London: Routledge.
Hayek, F.A. (1944). The Road to Serfdom, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hicks J.R. (1939). Value and Capital: An Inquiry into some Fundamental Principles of Economic Theory, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Inoua S. and Smith V. (2020a), “Classical economics: Lost and found”, The Independent Review, 25 (1), pp. 79-90.
Inoua S. and Smith V. (2020b), “Adam Smith’s theory of value: A reappraisal of classical price discovery”, ESI Working Papers, Chapman: ESI.
Inoua S. and Smith V. (2022), “Neoclassical supply and demand, experiments, and the classical theory of price formation”, History of Political Economy, 54 (1), pp. 37-73.
Koopmans T.C. (1951), “An Analysis of Production as an Efficient Combination of Activities”, in Koopmans T.C. (ed.), Activity Analysis of Production and Allocation (pp. 33-97), New York: Wiley.
Kurz H. and Salvadori N. (1995), Theory of Production. A Long-Period Analysis, Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press.
Kurz H. and Salvadori N. (2018), “On the ‘photograph’ interpretation of Piero Sraffa’s production equations: a view from the Sraffa archive”, in Corsi M., Kregel J. and D’Ippoliti C. (eds.), Classical Economics Today. Essays in Honour of Alessandro Roncaglia (pp. 113-128), London and New York: Anthem Press.
Kurz H. and Salvadori N. (2019), “Alla ricerca di una migliore teoria macroeconomica”, in Brancaccio E. and De Cristofaro F. (eds.), Crisi e rivoluzioni della teoria e della politica economica: Un simposio, Special issue Moneta e Credito, 72 (287), pp. 229-247.
Leontief W. (1951), The Structure of American Economy, 1919–1939: An empirical application of equilibrium analysis, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Marshall, A. (1890). Principles of Economics. First edition. London, Macmillan.
Pasinetti L. (2007), Keynes and the Cambridge Keynesians. A ‘revolution in economics’ to be accomplished, Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press.
Petri F. (2004), General Equilibrium, Capital, and Macroeconomics: A Key to Recent Controversies in Equilibrium Theory, Cheltenham (UK): Edward Elgar Publishing.
Roncaglia A. (1978), Sraffa and the Theory of Prices, Hoboken: John Wiley.
Roncaglia A. (2009), Piero Sraffa, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Samuelson P.A. (1951), “Abstract of a Theorem Concerning Substitutability in Open Leontief Models”, in Koopmans T.C. (ed.), Activity Analysis of Production and Allocation (pp. 143-146), New York: Wiley.
Smith V. (1962), “An experimental study of competitive market behavior”, Journal of Political Economy, 70 (2), pp. 111-137.
Smith V. (1965), “Experimental auction markets and the Walrasian hypothesis”, Journal of Political Economy, 74 (387), pp. 387-393.
Smith V. (2008), Rationality in economics. Constructivist and ecological forms, Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press.
Smith V. (2010), “Experimental methods in economics”, in Durlauf S.N. and Blume L.E. (eds.), Behavioural and Experimental Economics (pp. 120-136), London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Smith V. (2022). “Propriety, property, and price discovery in Adam Smith and Classical economics”, DySES conference 2022 at NEOMA Business School, Rouen, France. Plenary session, with discussant Emiliano Brancaccio, 5 October
Smith V. and Williams A.W. (1992), “Experimental Market Economics”, Scientific American, 267 (6), pp. 116-121.
Sraffa P. (1932), “Dr. Hayek on Money and Capital”, Economic Journal, 42 (165), pp. 42-53.
Sraffa P. (1960), Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities. Prelude to a critique of economic theory, Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press.
Thaler R.H. and Sunstein C.R. (2009), Nudge. Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, New York: Penguin Books.
von Neumann J. (1937), “Über ein ökonomisches Gleichungssystem und eine Verallgemeinerung des Brouwerschen Fixpunktsatzes”, in Menger K. (ed.), Ergebnisse eines mathematischen Kolloquiums, 1935-36 (vol. 8, pp. 73-83), Leipzig and Vienna, Franz Deuticke.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Emiliano Brancaccio
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.