On Wed, 19 Mar 1997, Gerald Levy wrote:
> Paul Z wrote in [OPE-L:4410]:
>
> > and Lenin's "Development of Capitalism in Russia" is ahead of
> > Sraffa's "Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities"
> > In fact, it would be great to see more Marxist "empirical" work.
>
> That raises an interesting point that I've been wanting to make for some
> time. It seems to me that "empirical work" has been interpreted too
> narrowly to mean statistical and/or econometric investigations (I think
> this reflects a bias in "mainstream" economics). Yet, I think, Lenin's
> book could be interpreted as an attempt at "empirical analysis" as well
> -- even though Lenin relied on the statistical work, case studies, and
> historical writings of others. It seems to me, in other words, that
> statistical analysis is only one aspect of "empirical" work and that
> class analysis, case studies on individual firms and markets, etc., and
> historical investigations are other important aspects of "empirical
> work."
I think this two opinions are quite correct.
Alejandro Valle