Augusto Graziani and the Marx-Schumpeter-Keynes ‘Cycle of Money Capital’: A Personal Look at the Early Italian Circuitism from an Insider

ABSTRACT

The paper goes back to the origins of the theory of the monetary circuit in its Italian incarnation. Focus is on the evolution of Augusto Graziani's thinking between mid-1970s and mid-1980s, considering: (i) how Graziani connected (positively or polemically) with Keynesianism and Post-Keynesianism, both in its Cambridge and US incarnations; (ii) how Graziani interpreted the contributions of Keynes proposing a continuity between the Treatise on Money, the General Theory, and the articles on finance published after the 1936 book; (iii) how beneath the research programme of Italian circuitism (Graziani) we may recognise a peculiar Marxian inspiration, later on pursued for a while by some participants to the Seminar in Monetary Theory that Graziani coordinated in Naples (1981–85). Since the mid-1970s Graziani — who already had a profound knowledge of Neoclassical Theory; and who was deeply aware of the role of institutions — developed more and more his heretical stance into what we may label as a ‘structural Keynesian' approach, inserting Keynes’ views about finance to production and effective demand into a Schumpeterian vision of the capitalist process, and leading to Marxian conclusions about value and distribution. The early forays into circuitism by Graziani were not only critical towards the Neoclassical Synthesis, Monetarism, or New Classical Macroeconomics. They were also grounded in an intense confrontation with other contemporary heterodox currents. The outcome was the construction of an original scheme of thought which amounted to nothing less than a macro-monetary theory of capitalist production.     

Money as a Generic Particular: Marx and Simmel on the Structure of Monetary Denominations

ABSTRACT

This article is concerned with the structure of monetary denominations of economic value. Marx and Simmel analyze this structure by means of references to objects of mere catallactic validity. These objects are ontologically atypical insofar as they are particulars of the genus commodity. Understanding money through generic particulars elucidates the conceptual link between money as a unit of account and money as a means of payment. This initially perplexing idea captures a fundamental characteristic of money without committing to either a commodity theory or a claim theory of money. A modification of the notion ‘commodity’ allows for a conception of money as a generic particular that is consistent with contemporary accounts of money as abstract purchasing power residing in different forms of liabilities and claims denominated in a common quantitative scale.     

Sraffa’s Constructive and Interpretive Work,and Marx

ABSTRACT

This article provides a summary account of Piero Sraffa’s constructive and interpretive work on the classical approach to the theory of value and distribution and its relationship with Marx’s contributions. It is shown that in the early phase of his constructive work Sraffa developed his equation systems by adopting a ‘physical real cost’ approach and a strictly objectivist point of view, and completely eschewed Marx’s labour-based approach and the related Marxian concepts. Only at a later stage did he explore systematically the relationship between his own modern re-formulation of the surplus approach to the theory of value and distribution and Marx’s contribution. He considered Marx’s most important analytical contribution to the further development of the surplus approach to consist of the re-integration of circular production relations, which allowed him to see the existence of a maximum rate of profits and its role in an analysis of accumulation and technical change.     

Marx on Ricardo: an explanation of some important misunderstandings

Ricardo's theory of value and distribution is reconstructed by proceeding along the lines of Marx's critique of Ricardo. It is thus an anti-critique of Marx's reading of Ricardo. The chapter ‘On Value’ in Ricardo's Principles is shown to be a consistent and rigorous treatment of the determinants of prices of production. According to Ricardo labor-values merely serve to approximate more elaborate standards of value. Marx's criticism is shown to rest crucially on his own misinterpretation of Ricardo's definitions and presupposes his own – faulty – theory of surplus value. Therefore Ricardo's theory can – contrary to Marx's theory of surplus value – still be regarded as a fruitful complement to Sraffa's model.     

基于多变量的中国货币需求函数实证分析

随着我国经济体制改革的逐步深化,建立货币需求模型的变量因子会逐渐发生变化.本文根据我国当代货币实际需求,选取变量因子建立货币需求模型,并对我国当代的货币需求进行实证分析.文章指出:(1)我国需要进一步疏通货币政策传导的渠道;(2)货币政策的操作应当逐步关注股票市场的影响;(3)小幅提高基准利率不能抑制我国经济过热现象;(4)央行维持物价相对稳定是扩大内需的必要条件.     

马克思相对过剩人口理论视角的我国当前失业问题探析

马克思的相对过剩人口理论是伴随着资本主义社会资本积累和资本有机构成提高而产生的,对研究我国当前的失业问题具有重要的理论指导意义。劳动力总供给大于总需求、产业结构调整、科学技术进步与广泛应用、劳动力素质与市场需求脱节等是我国当前失业问题产生的原因。其解决对策主要有,保持经济稳定增长,增加社会财富;发挥人口优势,大力发展第三产业;加快科技创新,推进社会分工;实施扩大就业战略,努力实现充分就业;改革教育制度,提高劳动者就业能力等。     

The Institutional Revolution: A review essay

This review essay discusses and appraises Douglas Allen’s The Institutional Revolution (2011) as a way of reflecting on the uses of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) in economic history. It praises and defends Allen’s method of asking “what economic problem were these institutions solving?” But it insists that such comparative-institutional analysis be imbedded within a deeper account of institutional change, one driven principally by changes – often endogenous changes – in the extent of the market and in relative scarcities. The essay supports its argument with a variety of examples of the NIE applied to economic history.     

Endogenous Money,Fiscal Policy,Interest Rates and the Exchange Rate Regime: A Comment on Palley,Tymoigne and Wray

One of the main collective contributions of the various heterodox schools of monetary thought, such as circuit theory, Post Keynesian theory, modern money theory (MMT) and others, has been to stress the importance of the endogeneity of money via bank credit creation. It is necessary to stress the notion of a collective contribution because of the various claims and counter-claims to academic priority made in the literature. The recent exchange between T.I. Palley and E. Tymoigne and L.R. Wray in this journal provides a clear example of this. This response examines the differences between these writers in some detail.     

Money Quantity and Optimal Monetary and Fiscal Policy: A Quantitative Analysis

This paper quantitatively analyzes the impact of money stock on optimal monetary and fiscal policy in a stochastic production economy with sticky prices. The numerical results indicate that a sufficient large quantity of money makes a noticeable difference in many aspects of optimal monetary and fiscal policy. They suggest that the volatile inflation in China may not be as bad as the existing theory would have implied if its large amount of money is taken into consideration.     

Value,Distribution and Capital: A review essay

This article identifies two possible alternative approaches to questions of exchange rate policy within a broadly keynesian frame work. One argument is that the implementation of keynesian’ policies in single jurisdiction requires a ‘managed’ or ‘dirty’ float, while the other would stress the benefits of a greater degree of nominal exchange rate stability as a means of reducing uncertainty and the volatility of expectations. We argue in favour of the former, on the grounds that it will not be possible to pursue a lsquo;cheap money’ policy to reduce real interest rates in a single jurisdiction unless there is some room to manoeuvre on exchange rates. A ‘fixed but adjustable’ exchange rate regime is less attractive because of the potential for deflationary bias in a hegemonic system with fixed exchange rates. Also, the politicization of exchange rate policy in such an environment makes necessary adjustments, particularly in a reflationary direction, more difficult than they otherwise would be. The recent history of the ERM in Europe provides examples of both phenomena.     

Seeing One's Intellectual Roots: A review essay

The Review of Austrian Economics -     

Existence of Equilibria in Matching Models of Money: A New Technique

This paper develops a new technique for proving the existence and indeterminacy of monetary equilibria in money search models with divisible money. Our technique is substantially simpler than standard constructive proofs in the literature. This paper is based on the second half of Kamiya and Shimizu (2002). We are very grateful to the associate editor and an anonymous referee of this journal for their very detailed suggestions and comments. This research is financially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from JSPS and MEXT. The second author also acknowledges the financial support by Zengin Foundation for studies on Economics and Finance.     

The Politics of Shadow Money: Security Structures,Money Creation and Unconventional Central Banking

ABSTRACT

For the first time in the history of central banks, the Federal Reserve has been pursuing monetary policies which allow shadow banks to access its reserves. The paper examines these policies in an analysis based on the concept of security structure. The aim is to facilitate a better understanding of complex institutional arrangements which convert credit claims into money or enable them to simulate the money-form. As the financial crisis reached its peak in September 2008, the Fed was not able to contain the impact precisely because the security structure existing between banks and the Fed did not extend to the shadow banking system, which had meanwhile become thebackbone of the global financial system. To address this situation, the Fed initiated new security structures that were designed to also give players in the shadow banking system access to liquidity and collateral. The concept ‘security structure’ serves as an analytical tool to explore dynamic forms of safety and liquidity generation and to distinguish between credit expansion and money creation. It also helps to differentiate between three qualitatively different stages of security: central bank money, quasi-money and shadow money. In this way, it foregrounds the politics of (shadow) money creation.     

Refugees as Surplus Population: Race,Migration and Capitalist Value Regimes

ABSTRACT

Refugees and migrants are often studied as though they have no relation to the racial and class structures of the societies in which they reside. They are strangers to be governed by ‘integration’ policy and border management. Refugees and migrants are, however, subjects of contemporary capitalism struggling to render themselves valuable capitalist modes of production. I study the government of refugees and migrants in order to examine capitalist value regimes. Societal values and hierarchies reflected in capitalist modes of production impact on struggles of racialised subaltern groups to translate body power into valued labour. Marx’s account of surplus populations points to the common marginalisations of people called ‘refugees’ and other subaltern groups struggling to translate their body power into valorised labour. The essay includes a study of the gentrification of a district in Budapest, and its transformation into a means for the reproduction of capital, leading to the marginalisation of groups who no longer fit the new value regimes. Studying refugees as surplus populations allows for a sense of the common marginalisations of subaltern and racialised groups before capitalism, and questions the treatment of refugees and migrants as ‘strangers’.     

Humanistic economics: The new Challenge: A review essay

This paper discusses the role of social, institutional, and psychological factors in the consumption and borrowing behavior of low-income households, and makes arguments in favor of policy interventions to alleviate some of the challenges of these households. Focus group evidence and findings on the current behaviors and borrowing patterns of low-income families are provided to support and motivate this perspective on consumption and policy. While the data are drawn from a specific region, the observations and findings could be generalized to other communities after accounting for different cultural and social characteristics. This research provides an in-depth understanding of the challenges confronted by low-income individuals at achieving their economic desires for lives of basic dignity, explores both economic and non-economic motivations, and provides insights useful for policy deliberation and model development.     

利润率的决定机制及其变动趋势研究——基于劳动价值论的新解释

主流经济学一直把利润率看作是一个外生变量而未深入研究,因此,利润率的决定及其变动趋势的研究必须向"古典剩余传统"回归.马克思曾把利润率趋于下降规律看作是政治经济学中最为重要的规律.但是,利润率趋于下降是要满足一定条件的.资本有机构成和剩余价值率与实际工资、技术进步和非经济因素等高度相关.文章从动态的角度,结合模型分析和实证检验,试图为利润率的决定机制及其变动趋势研究建立起一般分析框架.