IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/awu/journl/v15y2021i2p163-184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pierangelo Garegnani and the revival of the ‘submerged and forgotten’ surplus approach

Author

Listed:
  • Gary Mongiovi

    (St John’s University)

Abstract

Garegnani stressed that the theory of distribution is the foundation stone of all economic analysis and he focused on the existence, within the history of economic analysis, of two alternative approaches to the theory of value and distribution, namely the classical and marginalist ones. The upshot of Garegnani’s work is that economic science had been driven off course not by Ricardo’s classical approach but by Jevons, Marshall and Walras and that getting the discipline back on the right track requires the rediscovery and reactivation of the classical surplus approach that was abandoned in the mid-19th century. In this paper, some of the issues addressed by Garegnani to reactivate this approach will be discussed. They are the analytical method of the surplus approach, the relation between prices and outputs, and the implications of the phenomena of capital reversing and reswitching of techniques. Finally, some considerations on Garegnani’s interpretation of the labour theory of value and his analysis of exploitation will be advanced.

Suggested Citation

  • Gary Mongiovi, 2021. "Pierangelo Garegnani and the revival of the ‘submerged and forgotten’ surplus approach," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 15(2), pages 163-184, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:awu:journl:v:15:y:2021:i:2:p:163-184
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://serialsjournals.com/abstract/57311_4-mongiovifinal.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.bulletinofpe.com/gary-mongiovi-20212
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1994. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 772-793, September.
    2. Pierangelo Garegnani & Attilio Trezzini, 2010. "Cycles and Growth: A Source of Demand-Driven Endogenous Growth," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 119-125.
    3. Zonghie Han & Bertram Schefold, 2006. "An empirical investigation of paradoxes: reswitching and reverse capital deepening in capital theory," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 30(5), pages 737-765, September.
    4. Nell,Edward J., 1998. "The General Theory of Transformational Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521590068.
    5. Smith, Adam, 1776. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1776.
    6. Paul A. Samuelson, 1966. "A Summing Up," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(4), pages 568-583.
    7. Schefold, Bertram, 2017. "The Improbability of Reswitching, the Certainty of Wicksell-Effects and the Poverty of Production Functions: The Cambridge Critique of Capital Transformed," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168104, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Garegnani, Pierangelo, 1984. "Value and Distribution in the Classical Economists and Marx," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(2), pages 291-325, June.
    9. Duncan K. Foley, 2000. "Recent Developments in the Labor Theory of Value," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 1-39, March.
    10. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1974. "The Cambridge-Cambridge Controversy in the Theory of Capital: A View from New Haven: A Review Article," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 893-903, July/Aug..
    11. P. Garegnani, 1970. "Heterogeneous Capital, the Production Function and the Theory of Distribution," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 37(3), pages 407-436.
    12. Duncan K. Foley, 1982. "The Value of Money the Value of Labor Power and the Marxian Transformation Problem," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 14(2), pages 37-47, June.
    13. Garegnani, P, 1982. "On Hollander's Interpretation of Ricardo's Early Theory of Profits," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 6(1), pages 65-77, March.
    14. Garegnani, Pierangelo, 1983. "The Classical Theory of Wages and the Role of Demand Schedules in the Determination of Relative Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(2), pages 309-313, May.
    15. Sergio Cesaratto & Stefano Di Bucchianico, 2021. "The Surplus Approach, the Polanyian Tradition, and Institutions in Economic Anthropology and Archaeology," Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy), vol. 55(1), pages 185-216, June.
    16. P. Garegnani, 1966. "Switching of Techniques," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(4), pages 554-567.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlo Milana, 2019. "Solving the Reswitching Paradox in the Sraffian Theory of Capital," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(6), pages 97-125, November.
    2. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2022. "Computational methods and classical‐Marxian economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 310-349, April.
    3. Jonathan F. Cogliano, 2017. "Surplus Value Production and Realization in Marxian Theory - Applications to the U.S., 1987-2015," Working Paper Series 2017-01, Dickinson College, Department of Economics.
    4. J. Barkley Rosser, 2020. "Austrian themes and the Cambridge capital theory controversies," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 415-431, December.
    5. Jonathan F. Cogliano, 2021. "Marx's Equalized Rate of Exploitation," Working Papers 2021-01, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    6. Attilio Trezzini, 2018. "Piero Sraffa’s Use of the History of Economic Thought in the Cambridge Lectures," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 189-209, March.
    7. Antonella Stirati, 2022. "Alcune note sul contributo di Garegnani all'analisi economica (Some notes on Garegnani's contribution to economic analysis)," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 75(299), pages 251-265.
    8. Cavalieri, Duccio, 2013. "Towards a revision of the theory of capital," MPRA Paper 47351, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kurose, Kazuhiro & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2016. "The Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson Model and the Cambridge Capital Controversies," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2016-05, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    10. Gabriel V. Montes‐Rojas, 2023. "A typology of Marxian transformation procedures with endogenous exploitation rate," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 119-137, February.
    11. Vienneau, Robert L., 2019. "Structural economic dynamics, markups, real Wicksell effects, and the reverse substitution of labor," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 216-226.
    12. Matias Vernengo, 2022. "Oltre l'economia eterodossa volgare: una nota sull'eredita' di Pierangelo Garegnani (1930-2011) (Beyond vulgar heterodox economics: a note on the legacy of Pierangelo Garegnani (1930-2011))," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 75(299), pages 339-351.
    13. Michael Osborne & Ian Davidson, 2016. "The Cambridge capital controversies: contributions from the complex plane," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 251-269, April.
    14. Carlo Milana, 2019. "Refuting Samuelson's Capitulation on the Re-switching of Techniques in the Cambridge Capital Controversy," Papers 1912.01250, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2019.
    15. Cavalieri, Duccio, 2013. "A theory of capital as value in progress," MPRA Paper 47197, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Kersting, Götz & Schefold, Bertram, 2021. "Best techniques leave little room for substitution. A new critique of the production function," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 509-533.
    17. Marc Lavoie, 2022. "Pierangelo Garegnani, come lo intesi alla fine degli anni Ottanta (Pierangelo Garegnani, as perceived in the late 1980s)," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 75(299), pages 233-249.
    18. Bellino, Enrico & Nerozzi, Sebastiano, 2013. "Causality and interdependence in Pasinetti's works and in the modern classical approach," MPRA Paper 52179, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Massimo Cingolani, 2015. "Sylos Labini su Marx: implicazioni per la politica economica (Sylos Labini on Marx: economic policy implications)," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 68(269), pages 81-147.
    20. Avi J. Cohen, 2003. "Retrospectives: Whatever Happened to the Cambridge Capital Theory Controversies?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 199-214, Winter.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Surplus approach; prices and output; capital theory; labour theory of value;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:awu:journl:v:15:y:2021:i:2:p:163-184. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Maria Cristina Barbieri Goes (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.bulletinofpe.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.