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RICARDO AND RICARDIANS ON THE ORDER OF CULTIVATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2018

Christian Bidard
Christian Bidard*
Affiliation:
Economix, UPL, University Paris Nanterre, CNRS, F-92000 Nanterre, France.
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Abstract

The Ricardian dynamics are based on the study of the order of cultivation when demand increases. Piero Sraffa criticized David Ricardo for having assumed that the incoming method is defined by a natural order, and stressed that the law of succession of methods is based on a profitability criterion. Then, in the case of intensive cultivation, the question is whether the incoming method is indeed more productive than the one it replaces. Sraffa’s argument relies on the positivity of rent. However, there is a flaw in his reasoning, and a failure of the Ricardian dynamics is possible. Post-Sraffian scholars have misunderstood that construction and have substituted a static approach for it. The critiques they address to Sraffa are better understood by returning to Ricardo and Sraffa’s own methodology. Fifty years ago, mathematicians rediscovered Ricardo’s approach independently and worked out a powerful algorithm inspired by it.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 389 - 399
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2018 

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Footnotes

With acknowledgments to Guido Erreygers, Arrigo Oppocher, and Ian Steedman, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. The paper is dedicated to René de Marmier’s memory.

References

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