Re: [OPE-L] Sraffa's Contribution to Marxian Political Economy

From: ajit sinha (sinha_a99@YAHOO.COM)
Date: Tue Feb 27 2007 - 12:24:05 EST 

Thanks Jerry! It sounds more like a critique of Marx
rather than Sraffa. Are you sure he criticised the
assumption of equal rate of surplus value and not
equal rate of profits? cheers, ajit sinha

--- Jerry Levy <Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM> wrote:

> >  I would be interested in knowing what Solow had
> to say.
>
> Hi Ajit:
>
> I didn't take notes and am not sure I remembered all
> of the points he made
> or can recount them accurately.  (He spoke for quite
> a while, at least
> as long as those who were making presentations.)
> Perhaps Gary and/or
> Riccardo can fill-in or correct the following
> points:
>
> i) he was surprised (and humored) by the attention
> which Sraffa's archives
> has drawn.
>
> ii) he recounted discussions he had with PS  and his
> impressions of him
> which were generally favorable. Clearly, he
> respected PS as a peer
> and scholar.
>
>  iii) he criticized the assumption of  a equal rate
> of surplus (value) as
> not having a real base. In other words, it was
> assumed for reasons
> of mathematical convenience.  He also discussed the
> issue of
> the amounts of unknowns in Sraffa's theory and the
> choices that
> were made about limiting the quantity of unknowns.
>
> iv) he criticized  the point on the wage-rate of
> profit  frontier
> where the rate of profit equals zero.  At that
> point, he claimed
> 'exploitation' had no meaning.  He did add, though,
> that he
> was not opposed to a claim that there is
> exploitation in the
> real world. (*)
>
> In solidarity, Jerry
>
> (*)  iii and iv could be seen as similar objections
> in the
> sense that both imply that Sraffa's theory
> over-simplified the
> subject matter for reasons of mathematical
> expedience. A fair
> criticism perhaps, but from someone who developed a
> one-sector
> growth model?
>
> In solidarity, Jerry
>




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