IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/cambje/v44y2020i4p943-952..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sraffa on non-self-replacing systems: a note

Author

Listed:
  • Fabio Ravagnani

Abstract

In two passages of Production of Commodities, Sraffa states very concisely that the analysis presented also applies to viable economic systems in which the means of production consumed are not fully replaced. This aspect of the book has been nearly ignored for a long time, and, only in the last two decades have some scholars begun to discuss it in depth. These scholars, however, base their discussion on the terse references to non-self-replacing systems appearing in Sraffa’s published works—except for a single author, who also takes into account three brief passages drawn from Sraffa’s manuscripts. In the present note, we carry out instead an exhaustive examination of the unpublished manuscripts in order to ascertain as accurately as possible what exactly Sraffa’s position was concerning the nature and relevance of non-self-replacing systems. In the light of this examination, we briefly comment in the final section on some debatable aspects of current renditions of Sraffa’s theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Ravagnani, 2020. "Sraffa on non-self-replacing systems: a note," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 44(4), pages 943-952.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:44:y:2020:i:4:p:943-952.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/beaa010
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Enrico Bellino, 2018. "Viability, reproducibility and returns in production price systems," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(3), pages 845-861, December.
    2. Ajit Sinha, 2016. "A Revolution in Economic Theory," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-30616-2, September.
    3. Guglielmo Chiodi, 1998. "On Non-self-replacing States," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 97-107, February.
    4. Enrico Sergio Levrero, 2019. "On Sinha’s View of Sraffa’s Revolution in Economic Theory: A Review Essay," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 115-123, January.
    5. Fabio Ravagnani, 2001. "Notes on a Mischaracterization of the Classical Theory of Value," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 355-363.
    6. Christian Gehrke & Heinz D. Kurz, 2006. "Sraffa on von Bortkiewicz: Reconstructing the Classical Theory of Value and Distribution," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 91-149, Spring.
    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. Luca Timponelli, 2021. "From Pareto to Bridgman: The Operational Turn of Samuelson, Sraffa and Leontief," Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy), vol. 55(1), pages 303-328, June.
    2. Scott Carter, 2018. "On the Hijacking of the Intellectual and Archival Legacy of Piero Sraffa: A Comment on Ajit Sinha (2016)—A Revolution in Economic Theory: The Economics of Piero Sraffa," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 12(1-2), pages 3-34, June.
    3. Naldi, Nerio, 2018. "On the Origins of Piero Sraffa’s Equations. New Evidence Following Pierangelo Garegnani’s Lead," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP33, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".
    4. Ginzburg, Andrea, 2014. "Two translators: Gramsci and Sraffa," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP1, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".
    5. Enrico Bellino, 2018. "Viability, reproducibility and returns in production price systems," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(3), pages 845-861, December.
    6. Heinz D. Kurz & Neri Salvadori, 2011. "In Favor of Rigor and Relevance: A Reply to Mark Blaug," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 607-616, Fall.
    7. Pierangelo Garegnani, 2005. "On a turning point in Sraffa's theoretical and interpretative position in the late 1920s," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 453-492.
    8. Heinz D. Kurz, 2011. "The Contributions of Two Eminent Japanese Scholars to the Development of Economic Theory: Michio Morishima and Takashi Negishi," Chapters, in: Heinz D. Kurz & Tamotsu Nishizawa & Keith Tribe (ed.), The Dissemination of Economic Ideas, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Yoann Verger, 2018. "First steps for a Sraffian ecological economics. An answer to Martins' “The Classical Circular Economy, Sraffian Ecological Economics and the Capabilities Approach”," Working Papers hal-01700228, HAL.
    10. Duccio Cavalieri, 2009. "Sull'inseparabilit? delle strutture sintattiche nell'analisi classica del valore e della distribuzione," STUDI ECONOMICI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(97), pages 5-46.
    11. Lee, Frederic, 2011. "Heterodox surplus approach: production, prices, and value theory," MPRA Paper 31824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Fratini, Saverio Maria & Ravagnani, Fabio, 2023. "Sraffa and the ‘slogans not used’," MPRA Paper 117815, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. 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.
    14. Enrico Sergio Levrero, 2012. "Theories of Value from Adam Smith to Piero Sraffa," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 527-535, July.
    15. Frederic Lee & Tae-Hee Jo, 2011. "Social Surplus Approach and Heterodox Economics," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 857-876.
    16. Guglielmo Chiodi, 2018. "Sraffa’s Silenced Revival of the Classical Economists and of Marx," Working Papers 4/18, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    17. Heinz Kurz, 2006. "Whither the history of economic thought? Going nowhere rather slowly?," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 463-488.
    18. Roberto Scazzieri, 2022. "Decomposability and Relative Invariance: the Structural Approach to Network Complexity and Resilience," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 635-657, September.
    19. Heinz Kurz, 2009. "'If some people looked like elephants and others like cats, or fish …' On the difficulties of understanding each other: the case of Wittgenstein and Sraffa," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 361-374.
    20. Yoann Verger, 2017. "Sraffa and the revenue of the owner of non- renewable natural resources: notes on a never- ending debate [Sraffa et le revenu du propriétaire d'une ressource naturelle non-renouvelable: notes sur u," Working Papers hal-01596166, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sraffa; Production systems; Modern classical approach;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B24 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist; Scraffian
    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • E11 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Marxian; Sraffian; Kaleckian

    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:oup:cambje:v:44:y:2020:i:4:p:943-952.. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/cje .

    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.