Notes and comments. Ricardo on income tax: a note

Despite the fact that Ricardo experienced Pitt's income taxpolicies, and that he regarded taxation as the most importantissue to which the principles of political economy should beapplied, he rarely referred to actual tax reforms. This paperindicates that Ricardo's system of economics cannot bring aboutany tax that is completely compatible with his main criteriafor taxation (distribution neutrality, price neutrality andminimum taxation) as well as certainty, convenience and thesecurity of property. This result may explain why Ricardo didnot say which type of taxation system the British governmentshould establish.     

A THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF SISMONDI'S TABLEAU ECONOMIQUE

This paper submits Sismondi's calculation example presented in his paper of 1824 («On the Balance of Consumption and Production») in the form of an input-output table. This paper also examines Sismondi's argument concerning technological progress and under-consumption. The effect of an increase in labour productivity in one particular sector on the economy as a whole is analysed in the framework of a simple reproduction system. Subsequently the model is applied to a growth economy, and the difficulty of attaining balanced growth in Sismondi's system is discussed.