Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T22:47:10.605Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Non-ergodic (in Place of Stationary, Timeless) Economic Systems

Considerations Suggested by Joan Robinson’s Distinction between Two ‘Notions’ of Time in Economic Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

By
Ariel Dvoskin  and
Paolo Trabucchi
Edited by
Enrico Bellino  and
Sebastiano Nerozzi
Enrico Bellino
Affiliation:
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano
Sebastiano Nerozzi
Affiliation:
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano
Get access

Summary

Our comment to Pasinetti’s fourth point starts from Robinson’s distinction between ‘logical’ and ‘historical’ time and from the critique based on that distinction that she addressed to both the neoclassical and the classical theory of value and distribution. We find that there are two sides to Robinson’s critique: one by which that critique can legitimately be addressed to both theories, but that should be rejected; and the other, that with one reservation should be accepted but that has to do with the specific nature of the neoclassical theory inasmuch as this theory is based on demand and supply curves. Moving to further questions with a ‘chronological’ dimension, we argue that the interpretation which is sometimes proposed of the classical theory as a theory aimed at determining single ‘pictures’ of the economic system taken at different ‘points of time’ should also be rejected. Finally, we point out that the distinction between two notions of time reappears in the neo-Walrasian reformulation of the neoclassical theory, where, differently from what happened in Robinson’s case, it has the effect of obscuring the very possibility of comparing that theory with alternative economic theories.

Keywords

Joan Robinsonlogical timehistorical timeirreversibilityclassical theoryuniform rate of profitgravitationtâtonnement
Type
Chapter
Information
Pasinetti and the Classical Keynesians
Nine Methodological Issues
 , pp. 79 - 111
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arrow, K. (1968) ‘Economic Equilibrium’, in Sills, D. (ed.) International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, New York, MacMillan, pp. 376–389.Google Scholar
Arrow, K. and Hahn, F. (1971) General Competitive Analysis, San Francisco, Holden-Day.Google Scholar
Bellino, E. (2015) ‘Sraffa’s Price Equations in Light of Garegnani and Pasinetti – The ‘Core’ of Surplus Theories and the ‘Natural’ Relations of an Economic System’, in Cahiers d’économie politique, 69(2), pp. 15–44.Google Scholar
Bharadwaj, K. (1972) ‘Marshall on Pigou’s Wealth and Welfare’, in Economica, 39, pp. 32–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bharadwaj, K. (1978) Classical Political Economy and Rise to Dominance of Supply and Demand Theories, Calcutta, Orient Longman Co.Google Scholar
Bharadwaj, K. (1991) ‘History versus Equilibrium’, in Rima, I. H. (ed.) The Joan Robinson Legacy, Armonk, Sharpe, pp. 80–104.Google Scholar
Blankenburg, S. Arena, R. and Wilkinson, F. (2012) ‘Piero Sraffa and “the True Object of Economics”: The Role of the Unpublished Manuscripts’, in Cambridge Journal of Economics, 36, pp. 1267–1290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ciccone, R. (1999) ‘Classical and Neoclassical Short-Run Prices: A Comparative Analysis of Their Intended Empirical Content’, in Mongiovi, G. and Petri, F. (eds.) Value, Distribution and Capital: Essays in Honour of Pierangelo Garegnani, London and New York, Routledge, pp. 69–92.Google Scholar
Eatwell, J. (1982) ‘Competition’, in Bradley, I. and Howards, M. (eds.) Classical and Marxian Political Economy, London and Basingstoke, Macmillan, pp. 203–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eatwell, J. (1987) ‘Walras’s Theory of Capital’, in Eatwell, J. Milgate, M. and Newman, P. (eds.) The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, vol. 4. London: Macmillan, pp. 868–872.Google Scholar
Eatwell, J. (1997) ‘History versus Equilibrium’, in Arestis, P. Palma, G. and Sawyer, M. (eds.) Capital Controversy, Post-Keynesian Economics and the History of Economic Thought: Essays in Honour of Geoff Harcourt, vol. i, London, Routledge, pp. 350–359.Google Scholar
Eatwell, J. (2019) ‘Cost of Production and the Theory of the Rate of Profit’, in Contributions to Political Economy, 38, pp. 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eatwell, J. and Milgate, M. (eds.) (1983), Keynes’s Economics and the Theory of Value and Distribution, London, Duckworth.Google Scholar
Garegnani, P. (1976) ‘On a Change in the Notion of Equilibrium in Recent Work on Value and Distribution’, in Brown, M. Sato, K Zarembka, P. (eds.) Essays in Modern Capital Theory, Amsterdam, North-Holland, pp. 25–45.Google Scholar
Garegnani, P. (1983) ‘The Classical Theory of Wages and the Role of Demand Schedules in the Determination of Relative Prices, in American Economic Review, 73(2), pp. 309–313.Google Scholar
Garegnani, P. (1989) ‘Some Notes on Capital, Expectations and the Analysis of Changes’, in Feiwel, G. R. (ed.) Joan Robinson and Modern Economic Theory, London and Basingstoke, Macmillan, pp. 344–367.Google Scholar
Garegnani, P. (1990) ‘Quantity of Capital’, in Eatwell, J. Milgate, M. and Newman, P. (eds.) The New Palgrave: Capital Theory, London, Macmillan.Google Scholar
Garegnani, P. (1998) ‘Sraffa: The Theoretical World of the Old Classical Economists’, in Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 5(3), pp. 415–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gehrke, C. (2003) ‘On the Transition from Long-Period to Short-Period Equilibria, in Review of Political Economy, 15(1), pp. 85–105.Google Scholar
Hahn, F. (1975) ‘Revival of Political Economy: The Wrong Issues and the Wrong Argument’, in Economic Record, 51, pp. 360–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mas-Colell, A. Whinston, M. and Green, J. (1995) Microeconomic Theory, Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McKenzie, L. W. (2005) Classical General Equilibrium Theory, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.Google Scholar
Pasinetti, L. L. (1981) Structural Change and Economic Growth, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pasinetti, L. L. (2007) Keynes and the Cambridge Keynesians: A ‘Revolution in Economics’ to Be Accomplished, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Petri, F. (1991) ‘Hicks’s Recantation of the Temporary Equilibrium Method, in Review of Political Economy, 3, pp. 268–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petri, F. (2004) General Equilibrium, Capital and Macroeconomics: A Key to Recent Controversies in Equilibrium Theory, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Piccioni, M. (2000) ‘Prodotti netti negativi, accumulazione di capitale e cambiamenti nelle condizioni tecniche di produzione’, in Pivetti, M. (ed.) Piero Sraffa: Contributi per una biografia intellettuale, Roma, Carocci, pp. 191–202.Google Scholar
Ravagnani, F. (2002) ‘Produced Quantities and Returns in Sraffa’s Theory of Normal Prices: Textual Evidence and Analytical Issues’, in Boehm, S. Gehrke, C. Kurz, H. D. and Sturn, R. (eds.) Is There Progress in Economics?, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, pp. 371–382.Google Scholar
Ricardo, D. (1951–1973) Works and Correspondence, Sraffa, P. and Dobb, M. (eds.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. V. (1953) ‘The Production Function and the Theory of Capital’, in The Review of Economic Studies, 21(2), pp. 81–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, J. V. (1953 [1978]) ‘A Lecture Delivered at Oxford by a Cambridge Economist’, in On Re-reading Marx, Cambridge, Cambridge Student’s Bookshop, pp. 10–18; reprinted in Contributions to Modern Economics, Oxford, Blackwell, pp. 137–145.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. V. (1974 [1978]) ‘History versus Equilibrium’, in Indian Economic Journal, 21, pp. 202–213; reprinted in Contributions to Modern Economics, Oxford, Blackwell, pp. 126–136.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. V. (1975) ‘The Unimportance of Reswitching’, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, 89(1), pp. 32–39.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. V. (1976 [1989]) ‘Commento all’articolo di Garegnani’, in Garegnani, P. (ed.) Valore e Domanda Effettiva, Torino, Einaudi, Appendix A. Published in English in Garegnani, P. ‘Some Notes on Capital, Expectations and the Analysis of Changes’, in Feiwel, G. R. (ed.) Joan Robinson and Modern Economic Theory, London and Basingstoke, Macmillan, pp. 344–367.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. V. (1978) ‘Keynes and Ricardo’, in Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 1(1), pp. 12–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roncaglia, A. (2010) ‘Some Notes on the Notion of Production Prices’, in Vint, J. Metcalfe, S. Kurz, H. Salvadori, N. and Samuelson, P. (eds.) Economic Theory and Economic Thought: Essays in Honour of Ian Steedman, London, Routledge, pp. 174–188.Google Scholar
Roncaglia, A. (2019) The Age of Fragmentation: A History of Contemporary Economic Thought, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosselli, A. and Trabucchi, P. (2019) ‘Sraffa, the “Marginal” Method and Change’, in Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 51, pp. 334–340.Google Scholar
Schefold, B. (1985) ‘“On Changes in the Composition of Output”, in Political Economy’, Studies in the Surplus Approach, 1(2), pp. 105–142.Google Scholar
Schefold, B. (2019) ‘Continuity and Change in the Transition from the Classical to the Neoclassical Theory of Normal Prices’, in Rosselli, A. Naldi, N. and Sanfilippo, E. (eds.) Money, Finance and Crises in Economic History: The Long-Term Impact of Economic Ideas. Essays in Honour of Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, London, Routledge, pp. 11–26.Google Scholar
Smith, A. (1776 [1976]) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, Campbell, R. H. and Skinner, A. S. (eds.), Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Sraffa, P. (1960) Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Vianello, F. (1989) ‘Natural (or Normal) Prices: Some Pointers’, in Political Economy: Studies in the Surplus Approach, 5(2), pp. 89–105.Google Scholar
Walras, L. (1874–1876 [1954]) Elements of Pure Economics, London, Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Wicksell, K. (1893 [1954]) Value, Capital and Rent, London, Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Wicksell, K. (1910 [1936]) Lectures on Political Economy, London, Routledge.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×