Re: Heterodoxers are crackpots

[Paul Davidson <pdavidson@xxxxxxx>]

At 02:32 PM 8/25/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>  Even the "economic
> > problem" can be a little
> > different. Sraffians and many other post-keynesians
> > direct attention to the
> > process of accumulation and income distribution (I
> > would say neo-classicals
> > concentrate their attention in optimal
> allocation).

the point being that Sraffa's Production of Commodities By means of
Commodities is applicable to the classical system -- and I think Sraffa
meant to show that the classical system contained errors even on its own
playing field (this field has no relevance for the real entrepreneurial
economy-- only for what Keynes called a cooperative economy).

The capital controversy which the cambridge england group won -- again
merely "proved" mathematically that even on the classical field
the classical arguments required very specific additional assum[ptions
(i.e., no reswitching points) -- so that the classical theory of income
distribution was a "special case" of a special case and not a
general theory.

Paul Davidson

Editor, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics

503 SMC

University of Tennessee

Knoxville, Tn 379996-0550

phone Number: (865) 974-4221

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http://econ.bus.utk.edu/davidsonextra/Davidson.html