Early Ricardo's Theory of Profit : From Two-Sector Approach to Value Theory

概要

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Western researchers have been carrying out intensive studies on the profit theory of early Ricardo since 1973; however, some Japanese researchers had begun their critical studies on Sraffa's interpretation of that subject before them. One of the common problems discussed among Japanese researches was whether Ricardo's progress to his value theory in the Principles was in line with Sraffa's interpretation, which traced Ricardo's progress from his corn-ratio theory to his labour theory of value. This paper, originally written in 1972, contends that Ricardo advanced from the two-sector analysis to value theory. The two main points of my contentions are as follows. Firstly, Ricardo initially analyzed the subject of profits differently for the agricultural sector and the manufacturing sector but gradually conceived the subject as the problem of a whole economy. In other words, the contradiction of the two-sector analysis prompted him to develop a unified theory of value. Secondly, the unified labour theory of value in Ricardo, and in classical political economics in general, means that not only values of commodity but also distribution are regulated by technically and socially necessary labour. The value theory in his Principles arose out of Ricardo's recognition that an economy is organized as a society.
経済学史学会の論文
2011-01-31