L'economia come scienza morale: sottoconsumo e crisi nel pensiero di Sismondi (Economics as moral science: under consumption and crisis in Sismondi's thought)

This paper dealt with Sismondi’s theory of economic crisis. An analytical reconstruction has been provided, based on a preliminary reconstruction of his method. On the analytical plane, it has been shown that Sismondi finds a composition failure deriving from the tendency to cut wages on the part of capitalists: while, for the individual capitalist, a reduction of wages increases his profits, for capitalists as a whole this implies both a reduction of the demand for consumption goods and an incentive for social conflict. On the macroeconomic plane, the reduction of wages generates a reduction of profits via the decline of consumption and the increasing costs connected to the control of social conflict. Finally, it has been argued that Sismondi’s theoretical schema lacks of a theory of investments