IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/sraffa/0017.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Walras on capital: interpretative insights from a review by Bortkiewicz

Author

Listed:
  • Petri, Fabio

    (Università degli Studi di Siena (University of Siena))

Abstract

A review by Bortkiewicz, wholeheartedly approved by Walras, of the second edition of the Eléments supplies an important insight, until now neglected, on how Walras interpreted his own capitalization equations before the fourth edition. The insight helps to explain why Walras was for so long unable to perceive that his given vectorial endowment of capital goods was incompatible with the uniform rate of return on supply price that he was assuming. Walras seems to have confusedly considered the capital endowments relevant for the determi-nation of equilibrium rentals to be the ones resulting from the production of new capital goods, and therefore as having already undergone an adjustment of their composition toward the one required for URRSP. Realization of the erroneousness of this view can explain the unobtrusive but crucial changes in the discussion of capitalization in the fourth edition, and most likely also the introduction of the ‘bons’.

Suggested Citation

  • Petri, Fabio, 2016. "Walras on capital: interpretative insights from a review by Bortkiewicz," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP17, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".
  • Handle: RePEc:ris:sraffa:0017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.centrosraffa.org/public/6648e0d9-d4af-43ee-9e79-f9864c84e193.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabio Petri, 2006. "General Equilibrium Theory and Professor Blaug," Department of Economics University of Siena 486, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    2. Roberto Marchionatti, 2007. "On the application of mathematics to political economy'. The Edgeworth--Walras--Bortkievicz controversy, 1889--1891," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(2), pages 291-307, March.
    3. Antoine Rebeyrol, 2002. "'Yet another look'? A comment," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 541-549.
    4. Fabio Petri, 2004. "General Equilibrium, Capital and Macroeconomics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3438.
    5. Walker, Donald A, 1987. "Walras's Theories of Tatonnement," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(4), pages 758-774, August.
    6. Pascal Bridel & Elisabeth Huck, 2002. "Yet another look at Leon Walras's theory of tatonnement," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 513-540.
    7. Franco Donzelli, 2005. "Equilibrium and Tâtonnement in Walras' Eléments," UNIMI - Research Papers in Economics, Business, and Statistics unimi-1010, Universitá degli Studi di Milano.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Michelagnoli, 2021. "The modern Italian debate on the Walrasian theory of capitalization (1960-1971)," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 10(1), pages 131-155.
    2. Fabio Petri, 2017. "The Passage of Time, Capital, and Investment in Traditional and in Recent Neoclassical Value Theory," Department of Economics University of Siena 750, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    3. Saverio M. Fratini, 2019. "Neoclassical theories of stationary relative prices and the supply of capital," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(4), pages 723-737, November.
    4. 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.

    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. stephane verani, 2005. "An Inquiry Into the Causes and Nature of Walras' Theory of Tatonnement," Economic History 0504001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Pascal Bridel & Elisabeth Huck, 2002. "Walras's tatonnement : a reply to Rebeyrol and Costa," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 559-567.
    3. Fabio Petri, 2009. "On the Recent Debate on Capital Theory and General Equilibrium," Department of Economics University of Siena 568, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    4. D. Wade Hands, 2012. "The Rise and Fall of Walrasian Microeconomics: The Keynesian Effect," Chapters, in: Microfoundations Reconsidered, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Immonen, Eero, 2015. "A quantitative description for efficient financial markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 433(C), pages 171-181.
    6. Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández, 2018. "Alternative Approaches to Technological Change when Growth is BoPC," Department of Economics University of Siena 795, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    7. M. J. Dávila-Fernández & J. L. Oreiro & L. F. Punzo & S. Bimonte, 2017. ": Reinterpreting the fundamental contradiction of capitalism," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 168-182, April.
    8. Donald A. Walker, 1990. "Institutions and Participants in Walras's Model of Oral Pledges Markets," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 41(4), pages 651-668.
    9. Enrico Sergio Levrero, 2021. "Estimates of the Natural Rate of Interest and the Stance of Monetary Policies: A Critical Assessment," International Journal of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 5-27, February.
    10. Naoki Yoshihara & Se Ho Kwak, 2019. "Sraffian Indeterminacy in General Equilibrium Revisited," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2019-04, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    11. Saverio M. Fratini, 2013. "Malinvaud on Wicksell’s Legacy to Capital Theory: Some Critical Remarks," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Enrico Sergio Levrero & Antonella Palumbo & Antonella Stirati (ed.), Sraffa and the Reconstruction of Economic Theory: Volume One, chapter 5, pages 105-128, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Nuno Ornelas Martins, 2016. "Political aspects of the capital controversies and capitalist crises," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(4), pages 473-494, October.
    13. Stirati, Antonella, 2014. "Real wages in the business cycle: an unresolved conflict between theory and facts in mainstream macroeconomics," MPRA Paper 53743, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Lewis Gudgeon & Sam M. Werner & Daniel Perez & William J. Knottenbelt, 2020. "DeFi Protocols for Loanable Funds: Interest Rates, Liquidity and Market Efficiency," Papers 2006.13922, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2020.
    15. Ricardo Summa & Julia Braga, 2020. "The (conflict-augmented) Phillips Curve is alive and well," Working Papers 0055, ASTRIL - Associazione Studi e Ricerche Interdisciplinari sul Lavoro.
    16. De Vroey Michel & Duarte Pedro Garcia, 2013. "In search of lost time: the neoclassical synthesis," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-31, January.
    17. Plott, Charles & Roy, Nilanjan & Tong, Baojia, 2013. "Marshall and Walras, disequilibrium trades and the dynamics of equilibration in the continuous double auction market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 190-205.
    18. Michel De Vroey & Luca Pensieroso, 2016. "The Rise of a Mainstream in Economics," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2016026, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    19. Frederic S. Lee, 2012. "Heterodox Economics and its Critics," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 337-351, April.
    20. Dávila-Fernández, Marwil J. & Sordi, Serena, 2019. "Distributive cycles and endogenous technical change in a BoPC growth model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 216-233.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Walras; capital; Bortkiewicz; tâtonnement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • D50 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ris:sraffa:0017. 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: Saverio M. Fratini (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sraffit.html .

    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.