A New Perspective on Sraffa

Ajit Sinha

Chapter 5 in Towards a New Understanding of Sraffa, 2014, pp 81-93 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In the ‘Preface’ to the Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities (PCMC) Sraffa makes four specific remarks that are essential to understanding his book. These remarks are: (i) do not think in terms of equi-librium of demand and supply; (ii) there is no assumption regarding returns to scale; (iii) this standpoint is the standpoint of classical political economy from Adam Smith to Ricardo; and (iv) this book is a prelude to a critique of modern economic theory and if the propositions of the book are proved to be correct then it might provide a foundation for launching a critique of the modern economic theory. Unfortunately, none of these clear-cut statements by Sraffa have been given careful attention either by his followers or his critics in interpreting his book. In this chapter, I discuss the above four points to develop a new perspective on Sraffa’s book. In Section ‘Equilibrium of supply and demand and returns of scale’, I take up points (i) and (ii) and try to motivate a new interpretation of Sraffa’s equations. In Sections ‘A standpoint of classical political economy’ and ‘The foundation for a new critique of modern economic theory’, points (iii) and (iv) are taken up respectively, albeit in a highly brief and provisional manner. Here I have decided to state my position without giving it too much of a controversial air, as I have already presented my refutations of the received interpretations else-where (Sinha, 2007, 2010, 2012; Sinha and Dupertuis, 2009a, b).

Keywords: Constant Return; Standard System; Relative Prex; Classical Economist; Tacit Assumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1057/9781137034328_5

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