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Sraffa’s ‘Reduction’ of the prices of basics

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  • Schefold, Bertram

Abstract

Piero Sraffa, in his Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, used his so-called Standard Commodity as a tool for his exposition and for his derivation of Standard Prices. The paper shows that the reduction to dated quantities of labour, in which this exposition culminates, implies a diminution of the indirect labour inputs to any commodity over time that exhibits certain regularities, if the commodities are basics, and this helps to explain why the paradoxes of capital theory such as reswitching and reverse capital deepening are rare.

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  • Schefold, Bertram, 2021. "Sraffa’s ‘Reduction’ of the prices of basics," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 575-581.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:59:y:2021:i:c:p:575-581
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2021.10.011
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Enrico Sergio Levrero & Antonella Palumbo & Antonella Stirati (ed.), 2013. "Sraffa and the Reconstruction of Economic Theory: Volume One," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-31683-7, March.
    2. Zonghie Han & Bertram Schefold, 2006. "An empirical investigation of paradoxes: reswitching and reverse capital deepening in capital theory," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 30(5), pages 737-765, September.
    3. David Levhari, 1965. "A Nonsubstitution Theorem and Switching of Techniques," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 79(1), pages 98-105.
    4. Bertram Schefold, 2013. "Approximate surrogate production functions," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 37(5), pages 1161-1184.
    5. Pasinetti,Luigi L., 2007. "Keynes and the Cambridge Keynesians," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521872270, September.
    6. Bienenfeld, Mel, 1988. "Regularity in Price Changes as an Effect of Changes in Distribution," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 12(2), pages 247-255, June.
    7. Pasinetti,Luigi, 1993. "Structural Economic Dynamics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521432825, September.
    8. Kersting, Götz & Schefold, Bertram, 2021. "Best techniques leave little room for substitution. A new critique of the production function," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 509-533.
    9. repec:bla:kyklos:v:32:y:1979:i:1/2:p:236-50 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Bertram Schefold, 1979. "Capital, Growth, And Definitions Of Technical Progress," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1‐2), pages 236-250, February.
    11. Bertram Schefold, 2013. "Only a Few Techniques Matter! On the Number of Curves on the Wage Frontier," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Enrico Sergio Levrero & Antonella Palumbo & Antonella Stirati (ed.), Sraffa and the Reconstruction of Economic Theory: Volume One, chapter 3, pages 46-69, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Schefold, Bertram, 2022. "The Rarity of Reswitching Explained," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP58, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital theory; Reduction; Sraffa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B24 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist; Scraffian
    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D57 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Input-Output Tables and Analysis
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution

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