The Loneliness of the Long Distance Thinker: Sraffa, Marx, and the Critique of Economic Theory

Riccardo Bellofiore

Chapter 9 in Towards a New Understanding of Sraffa, 2014, pp 198-240 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Sraffa’s relationship to Marx remains a controversial topic. After the opening of Sraffa’s Archive in 1993, with the Sraffa Papers (SP) and the Sraffa Collection (SC), we know that the Italian economist changed his attitude on the labour theory of value (LTV). In 1927–31 he was very critical of the LTV whereas in the early 1940s Sraffa thought that his inquiry would vindicate the ‘Old Moor’. A few years later he abandoned this view of strong continuity, however even after the publication of Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities (PCMC) Sraffa maintained a positive judgment on Marx’s transformation procedure and even more than that he interpreted the results of his book in terms of capitalist exploitation within an amended Marxian discourse. It is perhaps with such restropsective that Sraffa would write in October 1975 that ‘in economic theory the conclusions are sometimes less interesting than the route by which they are reached’ (SP C26; Letter to C P Blitch).

Keywords: Real Wage; Production Price; Price Determination; Productive Configuration; Profit Rate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-03432-8_9

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137034328_9

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