Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Distribution: A. In logic, distribution refers to the scope of a term in a proposition. A term is distributed if it refers to all of the members of its class, and undistributed if it refers to only some of the members of its class. See also Syllogisms.
B.
In economics, distribution refers to how income, wealth, or resources are allocated among individuals, groups, or factors of production (e.g., labor, capital). It examines the fairness, efficiency, and patterns of allocation within an economy, influenced by policies, market forces, and societal structures._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Piero Sraffa on Distribution - Dictionary of Arguments
Kurz I 152 Value/Distribution/Sraffa/Classical Economics/Kurz: In November 1927 Sraffa began to elaborate his systems of equations. He quite naturally started with an economy that produces just enough, neither more nor less, to recover the necessary means of production used up in the process of production and the necessary means of subsistence in the support of workers - a situation reflected in what he called his "first equations." He emphasized that this amounts to considering wages "as amounts of fuel for production" (D3/12/7: 138)(1) and identified the situation as the realm of pure necessities, or "natural economy." In this case the concept of physical real cost applied in an unadulterated way. With respect to value in such conditions, Sraffa insisted that there was no problem of "incentives," the grand theme of marginalism: what mattered were exclusively the material costs of production of a commodity. The means of subsistence in the support of workers were an indispensable part of these physical real costs, because only Kurz I 153 their (recurrent) consumption "enabled" workers to perform their function. The periodic destruction of such commodities is a necessary condition for the economic system to realize a "self-replacing State," but it is not alone sufficient. The system must be able to restore periodically the initial distribution of resources in order for the (re)productive process to continue unhampered. Commodities must be exchanged for one another at the end of the uniform period of production. But which exchange ratios guarantee the repetition of the process? Sraffa showed that the sought-after ratios, or what Ricardo had called "absolute" values, were uniquely determined by the sociotechnical conditions of production and could be ascertained by solving a set of linear homogeneous production equations. >Economic Surplus/Sraffa, >Wages/Sraffa. 1. Taken from the work Sraffa carried out in the period 1927–1931 (unpublished papers). Kurz, Heinz D. „Keynes, Sraffa, and the latter’s “secret skepticism“. In: Kurz, Heinz; Salvadori, Neri 2015. Revisiting Classical Economics: Studies in Long-Period Analysis (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics). London, UK: Routledge._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Sraffa I Piero Sraffa Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities. Prelude to a Critique of Economic Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Cambridge 1960 Kurz I Heinz D. Kurz Neri Salvadori Revisiting Classical Economics: Studies in Long-Period Analysis (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics). Routledge. London 2015 |
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