Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter One The Reconstruction of an Alternative Economic Thought: Some Premises
- Chapter Two Reflections on Unity and Diversity, the Market and Economic Policy
- Chapter Three Ending Laissez-Faire Finance
- Chapter Four Democracy in Crisis: So What's New?
- Chapter Five The Democracy of Ideas: J. S. Mill, Liberalism and the Economic Debate
- Chapter Six Turgot and the Division of Labor
- Chapter Seven Agricultural Surplus and the Means of Production
- Chapter Eight The Role of Sraffa Prices in Post-Keynesian Pricing Theory
- Chapter Nine Classical Underconsumption Theories Reassessed
- Chapter Ten On the “Photograph” Interpretation of Piero Sraffa's Production Equations: A View from the Sraffa Archive
- Chapter Eleven On the Earliest Formulations of Sraffa's Equations
- Chapter Twelve Normal and Degenerate Solutions of the Walras-Morishima Model
- Chapter Thirteen Trading in the “Devil's Metal”: Keynes's Speculation and Investment in Tin (1921–46)
- Chapter Fourteen The Oil Question, the Prices of Production and a Metaphor
- Chapter Fifteen Europe and Italy: Expansionary Austerity and Expansionary Precariousness
- Chapter Sixteen Adam Smith and the Neophysiocrats: War of Ideas in Spain (1800–4)
- Bibliography
- List of Contributors
- Index
Chapter Seven - Agricultural Surplus and the Means of Production
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter One The Reconstruction of an Alternative Economic Thought: Some Premises
- Chapter Two Reflections on Unity and Diversity, the Market and Economic Policy
- Chapter Three Ending Laissez-Faire Finance
- Chapter Four Democracy in Crisis: So What's New?
- Chapter Five The Democracy of Ideas: J. S. Mill, Liberalism and the Economic Debate
- Chapter Six Turgot and the Division of Labor
- Chapter Seven Agricultural Surplus and the Means of Production
- Chapter Eight The Role of Sraffa Prices in Post-Keynesian Pricing Theory
- Chapter Nine Classical Underconsumption Theories Reassessed
- Chapter Ten On the “Photograph” Interpretation of Piero Sraffa's Production Equations: A View from the Sraffa Archive
- Chapter Eleven On the Earliest Formulations of Sraffa's Equations
- Chapter Twelve Normal and Degenerate Solutions of the Walras-Morishima Model
- Chapter Thirteen Trading in the “Devil's Metal”: Keynes's Speculation and Investment in Tin (1921–46)
- Chapter Fourteen The Oil Question, the Prices of Production and a Metaphor
- Chapter Fifteen Europe and Italy: Expansionary Austerity and Expansionary Precariousness
- Chapter Sixteen Adam Smith and the Neophysiocrats: War of Ideas in Spain (1800–4)
- Bibliography
- List of Contributors
- Index
Summary
Introduction
I have often asked myself why Appendix D of Piero Sraffa's (1960) book does not mention Sir William Petty, though his works are abundantly present in Sraffa's library (see De Vivo, 2014). Maybe some of the friends working on Sraffa's papers will satisfy my curiosity.
The question has not to do with the “corn model” but with the existence of an “economy which produces more than the minimum necessary for replacement” (Sraffa, 1960, 6).
To my knowledge Petty was the first author to clearly spell out the importance of the existence of a surplus of necessaries (see below section 3). Whether it is made of corn, agricultural products, subsistence goods or basic commodities, the concept of a physical surplus is at the core of Sraffa's investigation. In Sraffa's Production of Commodities (parts 1 and 2), the physical quantities of both the inputs and the outputs are given and are not related to prices; this is a fundamental assumption. From chapter 2 onward there is also a physical surplus, and “the right-hand side of the resulting sum-equation (or gross national product), will contain, besides all the quantities which are found on the lefthand side (or means of production and subsistence), some additional ones that are not” (ibid., 6).
This chapter offers a quick overview of the story of the role agricultural surplus and of the theory of wealth from mercantilism to Smith. Section 2 examines mercantilism, while section 3 deals with Petty and Cantillon. Section 4 examines the contribution of Francois Quesnay, and section 5 presents some elements of Adam Smith's view of wealth.
Moreover this chapter provides an opportunity to examine the scope and method of the early political economists up to Smith. The classical political economists tackled the issue of the wealth of nations, and some notions they elaborated are still of crucial importance in today's debates on development economics.
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- Information
- Classical Economics TodayEssays in Honor of Alessandro Roncaglia, pp. 73 - 88Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2018