Un nuovo Quaderno DEPS (735/2016). Il paper raccoglie la versione prelminare della presentazione che feci per i seminari Critical Economics in Times of Crisis organizzata nel 2015 da Tommaso Gabellini and Simone Gasperin col sostegno dell' Università di Pisa e della Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. Qui l'introduzione. Commenti benvenuti.
The modern revival of the Classical surplus approach:
implications for the analysis of growth and crises
Sergio Cesaratto
Sraffian economics has recovered the surplus approach
to the theory of value and distribution developed by the Classical economists
and Marx and later obscured by the emergence of marginalist economics in the
second half of the 19th century. It has also laid the foundations for a robust
capital-theoretic critique of the marginalist theory of distribution. By virtue
of this twofold contribution, Modern Classical Theory (MCT), also known as Classical-Keynesian approach, is well suited to
absorb and reinforce the more revolutionary insights of Keynes’s legacy and to spur
heterodox research in various directions. The paper suggests some implications
for modern macroeconomics and the interpretation of the global and European
crises. Given that some themes, particularly the capital-theory controversy,
will be illustrated by Fabio Petri’s contribution to the present volume, I will extend my own contribution considering some other
heterodox approaches in the light of MCT.
The paper intends to provoke interest in MCT
especially to young scholars interested in heterodox economics.
As said, MCT
has two constituents:
A)
Recovery of the Classical “surplus” theory of distribution. This approach entails a conflict
(non-harmonic) theory of distribution and identifies the roots of the crises in
income distribution inequalities and in the consequent problems of lack of
aggregate demand.
B)
Criticism of neoclassical capital theory. This undermines the
micro-foundations of modern macroeconomics (pars destruens) and saves the most
revolutionary of Keynes’ General Theory
propositions (pars construens).
MCT
tends to stick to the traditional method in economics of long-period equilibria
(better defined as long-period positions) of the Classical economists and Marx
(and of the early marginalists). This is one of the least understood aspects of
MCT, often seen as an element of
conservatism. As shown also by Petri, the opposite is true, and the necessity
to dispel this frequent misunderstanding motivates the critical consideration
given to some heterodox approaches in the final part of the paper.
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