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4 - Non-ergodic (in Place of Stationary, Timeless) Economic Systems

Considerations Suggested by Joan Robinson’s Distinction between Two ‘Notions’ of Time in Economic Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

By
Ariel Dvoskin  and
Paolo Trabucchi
Edited by
Enrico Bellino  and
Sebastiano Nerozzi
Enrico Bellino
Affiliation:
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano
Sebastiano Nerozzi
Affiliation:
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano
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Summary

Our comment to Pasinetti’s fourth point starts from Robinson’s distinction between ‘logical’ and ‘historical’ time and from the critique based on that distinction that she addressed to both the neoclassical and the classical theory of value and distribution. We find that there are two sides to Robinson’s critique: one by which that critique can legitimately be addressed to both theories, but that should be rejected; and the other, that with one reservation should be accepted but that has to do with the specific nature of the neoclassical theory inasmuch as this theory is based on demand and supply curves. Moving to further questions with a ‘chronological’ dimension, we argue that the interpretation which is sometimes proposed of the classical theory as a theory aimed at determining single ‘pictures’ of the economic system taken at different ‘points of time’ should also be rejected. Finally, we point out that the distinction between two notions of time reappears in the neo-Walrasian reformulation of the neoclassical theory, where, differently from what happened in Robinson’s case, it has the effect of obscuring the very possibility of comparing that theory with alternative economic theories.

Keywords

Joan Robinsonlogical timehistorical timeirreversibilityclassical theoryuniform rate of profitgravitationtâtonnement
Type
Chapter
Information
Pasinetti and the Classical Keynesians
Nine Methodological Issues
 , pp. 79 - 111
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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