La variazione dei prezzi relativi da Ricardo a Sraffa[The change in relative prices from Ricardo to Sraffa]

In the 1960, when “Production of commodities by means of commodities” by Piero Sraffa was published, the theoretical debate in economics was dominated by the keynesian and neoclassical economists. The theory of value and distribution of the classical economists had been abandoned. Sraffa recalls this theory in his book, providing a new rigorous formulation of the surplus approach and creating the framework which will serve as a basis for future critiques of the marginalist approach. The crucial issue is the theoretical formulation of the change in relative prices with respect to changes in the distribution of income. The scope of this paper is to shed light on the historical development of this aspect of the theory. At first I will reconsider the work done by D.Ricardo, subsequently the innovations brought by Sraffa will be analyzed, with their implications for the capital controversy debate and the general critique to the neoclassic theory of value.