Distribuzione e crescita, tecnologie e sviluppo. Riflessioni sull'analisi teorica di Nino Andreatta

Nino Andreatta, from mid-fifties to mid-sixties of the twentieth century, showed great interest to the theory of income distribution and to technological choices in relation to economic growth and development. Our reflection starts from the analysis of his work of 1958 Distribuzione del reddito e accumulazione del capitale (Income distribution and capital accumulation) first of all giving a stylized interpretation of Andreatta’view as a “political economist”. On this basis we propose a re-interpretation of his theoretical analysis, with special attention to the effects of innovations on the distribution of income and prices in relation to market forms. With the book of 1958 Andreatta gives consistency to his theoretical framework on which he will elaborate and publish various works that focus on three main themes. The first concerns the choice of techniques and the related intersectoral aspects, looking at the influences of the technology used in a sector and the development of other ones. The second theme is that of economic planning, with particular reference to less developed countries. The third one is the economy of research, for the identification of new development strategies. The analysis make it clear how Nino Andreatta was a remarkable theorical economist with eclectic post-Keynesian approach, with recalls in the classical economic thought and echoes in the schumpeterian one, but without a priori exclusion for other theoretical approaches.