IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/1912.01250.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Refuting Samuelson's Capitulation on the Re-switching of Techniques in the Cambridge Capital Controversy

Author

Listed:
  • Carlo Milana

Abstract

Paul A. Samuelson's (1966) capitulation during the so-called Cambridge controversy on the re-switching of techniques in capital theory had implications not only in pointing at supposed internal contradiction of the marginal theory of production and distribution, but also in preserving vested interests in the academic and political world. Based on a new non-switching theorem, the present paper demonstrates that Samuelson's capitulation was logically groundless from the point of view of the economic theory of production.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlo Milana, 2019. "Refuting Samuelson's Capitulation on the Re-switching of Techniques in the Cambridge Capital Controversy," Papers 1912.01250, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2019.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1912.01250
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1912.01250
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pertz, Klaus, 1980. "Reswitching, Wicksell Effects, and the Neoclassical Production Function: Note," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 1015-1017, December.
    2. Laibman, David & Nell, Edward J, 1977. "Reswitching, Wicksell Effects, and the Neoclassical Production Function," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(5), pages 878-888, December.
    3. Avi J. Cohen, 2003. "Retrospectives: Whatever Happened to the Cambridge Capital Theory Controversies?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 199-214, Winter.
    4. David Levhari & Paul A. Samuelson, 1966. "The Nonswitching Theorem is False," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(4), pages 518-519.
    5. Ajit Sinha, 2009. "Sraffa and the Later Wittgenstein ," Contributions to Political Economy, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 28(1), pages 47-69.
    6. Mata, Tiago, 2004. "Constructing Identity: The Post Keynesians and the Capital Controversies," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(2), pages 241-259, June.
    7. 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.
    8. Amartya Sen, 2003. "Sraffa, Wittgenstein, and Gramsci," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 1240-1255, December.
    9. Peter Lewin, 1994. "Capital theory," Chapters, in: Peter J. Boettke (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics, chapter 31, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Carlo Milana, 2019. "Solving the Reswitching Paradox in the Sraffian Theory of Capital," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(6), pages 97-125, November.
    11. Lloyd A. Metzler, 1950. "The Rate of Interest and the Marginal Product of Capital," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4), pages 289-289.
    12. Fisher, Irving, 1907. "The Rate of Interest," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number fisher1907.
    13. Paul A. Samuelson, 1966. "A Summing Up," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(4), pages 568-583.
    14. Morrison, C. J. & Berndt, E. R., 1981. "Short-run labor productivity in a dynamic model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 339-365, August.
    15. Tatsuo Hatta, 1976. "The Paradox in Capital Theory and Complementarity of Inputs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(1), pages 127-142.
    16. Paul A. Samuelson, 1975. "Steady-State and Transient Relations: A Reply on Reswitching," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 89(1), pages 40-47.
    17. Pierangelo Garegnani, 2024. "Heterogeneous Capital, the Production Function and the Theory of Distribution," Springer Studies in the History of Economic Thought, in: Roberto Ciccone (ed.), Capital Theory, the Surplus Approach, and Effective Demand, pages 147-193, Springer.
    18. Sato, Kazuo, 1976. "The Neoclassical Production Function: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(3), pages 428-433, June.
    19. Garegnani, P, 1976. "The Neoclassical Production Function: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(3), pages 424-427, June.
    20. Lewin,Peter & Cachanosky,Nicolas, 2019. "Austrian Capital Theory," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108735889, January.
    21. Abba P. Lerner, 1953. "On the Marginal Product of Capital and the Marginal Efficiency of Investment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 1-1.
    22. Yeager, Leland B, 1976. "Toward Understanding Some Paradoxes in Capital Theory," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(3), pages 313-346, September.
    23. Wassily Leontief, 1937. "Implicit Theorizing: A Methodological Criticism of the Neo-Cambridge School," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 51(2), pages 337-351.
    24. Samuelson, Paul A, 1974. "Complementarity-An Essay on the 40th Anniversary of the Hicks-Allen Revolution in Demand Theory," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 1255-1289, December.
    25. Pierangelo Garegnani, 2024. "Switching of Techniques," Springer Studies in the History of Economic Thought, in: Roberto Ciccone (ed.), Capital Theory, the Surplus Approach, and Effective Demand, pages 195-208, Springer.
    26. David Baqaee & Emmanuel Farhi, 2018. "The Microeconomic Foundations of Aggregate Production Functions," NBER Working Papers 25293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Michael Bruno & Edwin Burmeister & Eytan Sheshinski, 1966. "The Nature and Implications of the Reswitching of Techniques," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(4), pages 526-553.
    28. Michael Osborne & Ian Davidson, 2016. "The Cambridge capital controversies: contributions from the complex plane," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 251-269, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlo Milana, 2019. "Solving the Reswitching Paradox in the Sraffian Theory of Capital," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(6), pages 97-125, November.
    2. Kurose, Kazuhiro & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2016. "The Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson Model and the Cambridge Capital Controversies," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2016-05, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    3. J. Barkley Rosser, 2020. "Austrian themes and the Cambridge capital theory controversies," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 415-431, December.
    4. Kazuhiro Kurose & Naoki Yoshihara, 2018. "The Heckscher—Ohlin—Samuelson Trade Theory and the Cambridge Capital Controversies: On the Validity of Factor Price Equalisation Theorem," Working Papers SDES-2018-17, Kochi University of Technology, School of Economics and Management, revised Nov 2018.
    5. Michael Osborne & Ian Davidson, 2016. "The Cambridge capital controversies: contributions from the complex plane," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 251-269, April.
    6. Kurose, Kazuhiro & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2018. "The Heckscher—Ohlin—Samuelson Trade Theory and the Cambridge Capital Controversies: On the Validity of Factor Price Equalisation Theorem," Discussion Paper Series 686, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    7. Nadia Garbellini, 2018. "Inequality in the 21st Century:A Critical Analysis of Piketty`s Work," Working Papers Series 69, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    8. Avi J. Cohen & Geoffrey C. Harcourt, 2010. "Reswitching and Reversing in Capital Theory," Chapters, in: Mark Blaug & Peter Lloyd (ed.), Famous Figures and Diagrams in Economics, chapter 24, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Vienneau, Robert L., 2019. "Structural economic dynamics, markups, real Wicksell effects, and the reverse substitution of labor," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 216-226.
    10. Attilio Trezzini, 2018. "Piero Sraffa’s Use of the History of Economic Thought in the Cambridge Lectures," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 189-209, March.
    11. G. C. Harcourt, 2015. "On the Cambridge, England, Critique of the Marginal Productivity Theory of Distribution," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 243-255, June.
    12. Garbellini, Nadia, 2020. "Measurement without theory, and theory without measurement: What's wrong with Piketty's capital in the XXI century?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 50-62.
    13. Perino, Grischa & Requate, Till, 2012. "Does more stringent environmental regulation induce or reduce technology adoption? When the rate of technology adoption is inverted U-shaped," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 456-467.
    14. Peter Lewin & Nicolas Cachanosky, 2019. "Re-switching, the average period of production and the Austrian business-cycle theory: A comment on Fratini," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 375-382, December.
    15. Avi J. Cohen, 2003. "Retrospectives: Whatever Happened to the Cambridge Capital Theory Controversies?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 199-214, Winter.
    16. Saverio M. Fratini, 2010. "Reswitching And Decreasing Demand For Capital," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 676-682, November.
    17. P. C. Afxentiou*, 1985. "Opportunity Costs and Collective Bargaining," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 53(4), pages 244-250, December.
    18. Rahim, Sikander, 2018. "Capital, technical progress and international trade," MPRA Paper 94432, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Cameron Harwick, 2022. "Unmixing the metaphors of Austrian capital theory," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 163-176, June.
    20. Vienneau, Robert L., 2021. "Fluke Switch Points in Pure Fixed Capital Systems," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP48, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • 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
    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • D57 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Input-Output Tables and Analysis
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • Q11 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1912.01250. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.