A Revolution in Economic Theory: The Economics of Piero Sraffa PDF
Preview A Revolution in Economic Theory: The Economics of Piero Sraffa
A REVOLUTION IN ECONOMIC THEORY The Economics of Piero Sraffa Ajit Sinha A Revolution in Economic Theory Ajit Sinha A Revolution in Economic Theory The Economics of Piero Sraffa Ajit Sinha Azim Premji University India ISBN 978-3-319-30615-5 ISBN 978-3-319-30616-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30616-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947370 © Th e Editor(s) (if applicable) and Th e Author(s) 2016 Th is work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and trans- mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Th e use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Th e publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © PhotoAlto / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper Th is Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature Th e registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland For Alice Th e joy of my life Foreword For many years now, Ajit Sinha has been writing on the nature and signif- icance of Piero Sraff a’s approach and contributions to economic theory. He began by formulating his interpretations on what was available in the public domain—in Sraff a’s case, these were relatively thin pickings as far as quantity but not quality was concerned—and then by exhaustive archival research once the Sraff a Papers at Trinity College, Cambridge, were eventually opened to scholars. Th e result of these labours is this present book which is a mature com- ing to fruition of many years of deep musing. Most importantly, Sinha perceived that Sraff a’s approach to economic theory could not be under- stood unless you realised that Sraff a’s philosophy and economics were indissolubly mixed, that Sraff a was as much a genius as a philosopher, as he was a critical yet constructive economist. Th e result is an historical analytical account of the nature of Sraff a’s ideas and their signifi cance for pure economic theory. Sinha has a fi ne understanding of the history of our subject and of Sraff a’s absorption of it from his undergraduate days on. All these strands come together in A Revolution in Economic Th eory . Sinha’s thesis is already a highly controversial take on the approach and the contributions of one of the greatest scholars of the twentieth century. Here, he has presented a vii viii Foreword serious sustained argument which should be treated with respect by other scholars, and especially by those who disagree with Sinha’s interpretation. GC Harcourt Emeritus Reader in Th e History of Economic Th eory, Cambridge, 1998; Emeritus Fellow, Jesus College, 1998; Professor Emeritus, Adelaide, 1988; Visiting Professorial Fellow, UNSW, 2010–2016. Prefa ce A rguably Piero Sraff a (1898–1983) was one of the most enigmatic and philosophically the most sophisticated minds in the history of economic science. He has been credited for ‘the most consequential ideas’ of the Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein, who put him high on his short list of geniuses. Wittgenstein had regular discussions with Sraff a for more than a decade during 1930s and 1940s in Cambridge, England, and on many occasions he told his friends that those discus- sions ‘made him feel like a tree from which all branches had been cut’ (see Monk 1990, p. 261). Th us the philosophical sophistication and sharpness of Sraff a’s mind is beyond doubt. At the early age of 27–28, Sraff a published two articles (1925, 1926) that challenged the established Marshallian hegemony on economic theory and consequently gave birth to the literature on ‘imperfect competition’. However, he quickly lost interest in such a project. Apart from a book review of Hayek’s P rices and Production , written at the request of Keynes, in 1932 and his magisterial editing of Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo in 11 volumes, most of which was published during 1951–52, Sraff a mostly remained silent until he published his slender classic, P roduction of Commodities by Means of Commodities: Prelude to a Critique of Economic Th eory , in 1960. Th is book was in the making from late 1927. It is less than 100 pages long and reads like an example of minimalist art in economic prose. After ix
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