C.E. Ferguson and the Neoclassical Theory of Capital: A Matter of Faith
Scott Carter ()
Review of Political Economy, 2011, vol. 23, issue 3, 339-356
Abstract:
In 1969 the American neoclassical economist C.E. Ferguson wrote that reliance on neoclassical aggregate production and distribution theory is a 'matter of faith' to be sorted out (he says 'answered') by econometricians. Ferguson was criticized on both sides of the debate for invoking this religious metaphor. Using the methodological framework of A.J. Cohen & G.C. Harcourt (2005), Introduction: capital theory controversy: scarcity, production, equilibrium, and time, in: A. Cohen, G.C. Harcourt & C. Bliss (Eds) Capital Theory, 3 Vols. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, this paper argues that faith plays a recurring role in all capital controversies and especially in modern theories of growth that rely wholesale on the aggregate production function. Ferguson's faith proves to be much more insightful than previously recognized.
Date: 2011
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09538259.2011.583818 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:23:y:2011:i:3:p:339-356
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CRPE20
DOI: 10.1080/09538259.2011.583818
Access Statistics for this article
Review of Political Economy is currently edited by Steve Pressman and Louis-Philippe Rochon
More articles in Review of Political Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().