On Sraffa's Standard commodity

The necessity of expressing the relative price of a commodityin terms of another commodity makes it impossible to distinguishthat part of any change that can be ascribed to the characteristicsof the commodity itself from the part of that change that isto be ascribed to the characteristics of the commodity of reference,i.e., the numéraire. Ricardo (1817) was the first topoint out this problem and the need to find an ‘invariablemeasure of value’, but he was not able to solve the problem.In 1960, Sraffa suggested using a bundle of commodities, thathe called ‘Standard commodity’, to accomplish thisfunction, claiming that it was a standard of value invariantwith respect to changes in the distribution of income. But inSraffa's book there is no explicit proof of this claim. Thisgave rise to many misunderstandings about the Standard commodityand its role as invariable measure of value. This paper proposesa proper definition of an ‘invariable measure of value’,and then proves that the Sraffa ‘Standard commodity’does fulfil the requirements of this definition.     

Against the current: Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts and the history of economic thought *

The paper throws some new light on Sraffa's contribution, using material from his yet unpublished papers. Attention focuses on Sraffa's rediscovery of the distinct character of the classical theory of value and distribution and his refutation of the Marshallian interpretation that it is only a special case of demand and supply theory, his reformulation of the classical theory, and his criticism of the alternative neoclassical theory.     

Sraffa's system: Equal rate of profits and the notion of center of gravitation

This paper argues that the condition of uniform rate of profits in Sraffa's system is not based on his implicit assumption that the system is at the ‘equilibrium’ or the center of gravitation. It is rather a logical requirement of a reproducing system of basic goods as long as prices are not imposed from outside the system. This condition holds irrespective of supplies being equal to their respective effectual demands. It conjectures that Sraffa could have arrived at this conclusion through his analysis of the Standard system. On the basis of this result, a critique of the received interpretation, led by Garegnani, of Sraffa's prices is developed.     

Keynes and Sraffa's 'Difficulties with J. H. Hollander'

The paper reports on Jacob H. Hollander's cooperation with John Maynard Keynes and Piero Sraffa in the preparation of the latter's edition of The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo. The report is based on archive material from various sources, including the unpublished papers of Edwin Cannan, Piero Sraffa, Jacob H. Hollander, John Maynard Keynes, and Jacob Viner, and the archive of the Royal Economic Society. The archive material consulted by us shows that, put mildly, Jacob H. Hollander did not promote Sraffa's editorial project: he held back material which he had received from Frank Ricardo and did not disclose to Sraffa that he owned several important letters which he had privately purchased. Moreover, Sraffa was refused access to Ricardiana even after he had traced them down in laborious detective work to be in Hollander's possession. Hollander's unwillingness to cooperate with Sraffa considerably delayed the publication of the Ricardo edition.     

Capital theory and the origins of the elasticity of substitution (1932-35)

Elasticity of substitution was introduced into economics duringthe early 1930s. It was discovered independently by Hicks inThe Theory of Wages and by Joan Robinson in The Economics ofImperfect Competition, and then was the centre of a polemicinvolving Kahn and Sraffa, among others. The debate focusedon imperfect competition and capital-theoretical issues. Someelements of the 1950s and 1960s capital theory controversy,such as the idea of capital as a Giffen good or the difficultiesof measuring capital, were already discussed at this early stage.     

《资本论》转型理论及其现实意义考察

《资本论》是一部无产阶级政治经济学的光辉巨著,是马克思主义的百科全书,也是研究社会经济转型发展的根本理论。《资本论》转型理论一直深受学界的关注,文章通过分析《资本论》在三个阶段、两类过程、两个层面及其主体等方面的理论转型,力图在理论层面和实践层面为我国现阶段的转型发展提供学理层面的规范与指引,从而为当下实现平稳转型起抛砖引玉之功效。     

Walras and Darwin: an odd couple?

General equilibrium theory and the evolutionary branches of economics and game theory take rather opposite positions in the spectrum covered by the economic science. However, we reveal and explore analogies between Darwinian dynamics and Walrasian tatonnement processes for pure exchange economies, as well as further analogies implied by these.     

Changes in the firms behavior after the opening of markets of allowances

This paper focuses on the influence on the general equilibrium of an economy of the opening of markets of allowances, such as the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. Assuming there existed an equilibrium before the opening of allowances’ markets, we describe the changes in the firms behavior which guarantee that an equilibrium can be reached in the enlarged economy. Hence we describe under which conditions the economy can undergo the opening of markets of allowances. This paper is a substantial improvement of previous work in collaboration with Alexandrine Jamin (Jamin and Mandel 2006).The author is grateful to Professor Jean-Marc Bonnisseau for his guidance and to an anonymous referee whose comments led to substantial improvements of the paper.     

The number and type of long-term equilibria

We consider a balanced-growth model with finitely many processes, a uniform rate of profits, and a given composition of final demand. Two types of equilibria are distinguished, black and white: the color of an equilibrium is defined by the relative sign of two determinants associated with the operated methods, and can be interpreted as a local property of a cross-dual dynamic process. Under standard economic assumptions, and flukes apart, the number of white equilibria exceeds that of black equilibria by one. In particular the total number of long-term equilibria is odd.     

Stabilizing consumer choice: the role of ‘true dynamic stability’ and related concepts in the history of consumer choice theory

Abstract

It is often argued that the inability of Arrow–Debreu general equilibrium theory to produce an adequate proof of the stability of the Walrasian price adjustment mechanism was one of the program's most significant failures. This paper will not question this standard interpretation of the history of general equilibrium theory, but makes the case that characterizing the ‘stability’ question in terms of market stability– in particular the stability of the equilibrium price vector in the Walrasian general equilibrium model – actually helped to stabilize the standard model of consumer choice in general equilibrium theory and elsewhere within microeconomics. The problem of the stability of ‘consumer's equilibrium’ was much discussed early in the twentieth century, and it has recently re-emerged in a different guise as the ‘endowment effects’ and ‘reference dependencies’ of contemporary behavioral economics, and yet it disappeared from mainstream discussion during the period 1950 to 1980. This paper argues that shifting the discussion from the intra-agent stability of the individual consumer to the inter-agent stability of the competitive market contributed – despite its ultimately negative impact on general equilibrium theory – to the long period of stable normal science consumer choice theory enjoyed during the middle of the twentieth century.     

人的生命价值理论比较研究

西方关于生命价值理论可概括为两大有别的理论,即人力资本理论和风险交易理论.前者能较容易地客观评估人的经济价值,后者不仅考虑了人的经济价值而且还考虑了非经济的价值.这两种理论和方法各有其优缺点,社会性管制理论在评价政府的管制政策时应把二者结合起来.     

An economic analysis of mixing wastes

Using a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous waste, this paper studies optimal waste policy when households have to exert separation effort to produce homogeneous waste streams suitable for recycling. Our model explicitly allows for changes in the composition (quality) of waste streams depending on how much effort households are willing to spend on separating different types of waste. Accordingly, we are able to generalize some earlier contributions to the waste management literature and demonstrate that with both mixing and effort included, a first-best optimum is feasible under reasonable conditions. In particular, we find that a (modified) deposit-refund system still provides the optimal incentives to guide recycling as well as legal disposal (landfilling) and illegal dumping. Both the number and level of taxes and subsidies needed to reach the first-best depend crucially on the socially optimal level of dumping as well as the socially optimal composition of the mix. We are grateful to two anonymous referees, Leon Bettendorf, Elbert Dijkgraaf, Don Fullerton and Matthieu Glachant for constructive comments and useful discussions on an earlier version of this paper.     

On Sraffa's Standard commodity: is its price invariant with respect to changes in income distribution?

In his 1960 book, Sraffa suggested using a composite commodity,which he called the ‘Standard commodity’, to solveRicardo's search for an invariable measure of value, i.e., astandard capable of isolating the price movements of any othercommodity induced by changes in income distribution. The absencein Sraffa's book of an explicit proof of the invariance propertyof this standard gave rise to many misunderstandings about itsmeaning and its role as an invariable measure of value. In orderto clear up these questions, Bellino (On Sraffa's Standard commodity,Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 28, 121–32, 2004)has proposed a ‘proper’ definition of an ‘invariablemeasure of value’, showing that Sraffa's Standard commoditydoes fulfil the requirements of this definition. He claims thatthe fulfilment of this property (but not the constancy of its‘nominal’ price) qualifies the Standard commodityas an invariable measure of value. In this paper, a proof ofthe invariance of the price of the Standard commodity with respectto changes in income distribution is given, and the equivalenceof this property with Bellino's definition of invariance isshown.     

关系资本财务:一个新的理论探讨

关系资本是企业在再生产过程中,基于互惠、协作、承诺等原则,在企业内部以及企业外部构建的关系网络,通过有效的投资、管理能给企业带来超额价值的无形资本。关系资本也是一种资本,关系资本能给企业带来经济利益是其成为企业资本的必要条件,而马克思的分工协作理论为关系资本的形成提供了充分的理论基础。本文在探讨了关系资本的内涵与形成的理论基础上,初步构建了关系资本财务理论框架。将关系资本纳入财务研究领域,是对企业财务理论的丰富与拓展;同时,有利于企业加强关系资本管理、提升企业绩效。     

The unreasonable ineffectiveness of mathematics in economics

In this paper, I attempt to show that mathematical economicsis unreasonably ineffective. Unreasonable, because the mathematicalassumptions are economically unwarranted; ineffective becausethe mathematical formalisations imply non-constructive and uncomputablestructures. A reasonable and effective mathematisation of economicsentails Diophantine formalisms. These come with natural undecidabilitiesand uncomputabilities. In the face of this, I conjecture thatan economics for the future will be freer to explore experimentalmethodologies underpinned by alternative mathematical structures.The whole discussion is framed within the context of the celebratedWignerian theme: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematicsin the Natural Sciences.     

现代比较优势理论剖析

现代比较优势理论建立在相互矛盾的假设条件之上,因而是不正确的。一个国家的资本劳动比并没有意义,它只是技术水平的反映。国家之间资本劳动比例的不同也只是反映了技术水平的不同。在发达国家和发展中国家之间,贸易的原因是技术差距,而不是资本劳动比例的差异。发展中国家不应该盲目积累资本和提高人均资本的数量,而应该尽快提高本国的技术水平。