Critical Economics in Times of Crisis (Third Seminar) – Sergio Cesaratto

The third seminar of the series Critical Economics in Times of Crisis has introduced the virtues of Capital Theory as elaborated by the Italian economist Piero Sraffa. Its insights represent a coherent and alternative vision of the capitalist economy with respect to the neoclassical marginalist view. The seminar was aimed to present some theoretical aspects of this approach as well as to discuss its political implications for a better understanding of the current economic crisis.

SERGIO CESARATTO (Università degli Studi di Siena)


Title: The modern revival of the classical surplus approach: implications for the analysis of growth and crises

Abstract: Sraffian economics has recovered the surplus approach to the theory of value and distribution that was developed by the classical economists and Marx, but 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 is well-suited to absorb and reinforce the more revolutionary insights of Keynes’s legacy. The presentation will suggest implications for modern macroeconomics and an interpretation of the global and European crisis.

For further references: https://criticalseminars.wordpress.com/third-seminar/