The Trade-Off between Rigor and Relevance: Sraffian Economics as a Case in Point

Piero Sraffa published in 1960, and this enigmatic little book invited explanations of its meaning, particularly as its subtitle, , held out hopes of an ambitious research program. In the almost half-century since its publication, it has attracted a small following, particularly in Europe, but it ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:History of political economy 2009-07, Vol.41 (2), p.219-247
Main Author: Blaug, Mark
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conceptualization
Deduction
Economic theory
Economics
European History
General economic equilibrium
History
History of economic thought
Mathematical models
Relevance
Sraffa, Piero
Trade-off
Tradeoff analysis
U.S. History
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Summary:Piero Sraffa published in 1960, and this enigmatic little book invited explanations of its meaning, particularly as its subtitle, , held out hopes of an ambitious research program. In the almost half-century since its publication, it has attracted a small following, particularly in Europe, but it has failed to make much of an impact on American academic economics. This is odd because Sraffian economics in many ways satisfies the relentless concern of mainstream American economics with mathematical rigor. As a species of general equilibrium theory, Sraffian economics is indeed rigoros but it appears to be irrelevant to the sort of issues that concern modern economists.
ISSN:0018-2702
1527-1919
DOI:10.1215/00182702-2009-001