Università Roma Tre

1. The notion of Surplus
2. The capitalist mode of production
3. Sraffa's theory of prices
4. The integrated wage-commodity sector and the surplus equation
5. The marginalist theory of distribution
6. Capital as a factor of production

- Teaching material written by the teacher and available online.
- Sraffa, P. (1960) Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Chapters I-IV and VI.

Second Module -Program
1. The different adjustment process between savings and investment in neoclassical theory and in the Keynesian approach, with the associated implications for the level of aggregate output.
2. The neoclassical theory of investment: derivation of the interest-elastic investment demand function from the demand function for capital as a factor of production. Extensibility to the investment function of the criticism of the neoclassical theory of capital.
3. Critical analysis of attempts to establish the inverse interest-investment relationship on non-neoclassical theoretical bases.
4. Long-run relationships between investment, savings and productive capacity in the context of a theoretical approach alternative to the neoclassical one. Demand, capacity utilisation levels and processes of capacity creation.
5. Private savings and public sector deficits and debt. A theoretical model of the effects of fiscal policy on the ratio of public debt to GDP.

Second Module - Teaching material
- Slides of the lectures.
Parts from the following materials will also be indicated during the course:
- G. Ackley, Macroeconomic theory and policy, Macmillan, 1978.
- J. Robinson, Introduction to the Theory of Employment, Palgrave Macmillan, 1969.
- P. Garegnani, ‘Notes on consumption, investment and effective demand’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2:4, 1978.
- F. Petri, General Equilibrium, Capital, and Macroeconomics, Edward Elgar, 2004
- M. Kalecki, ‘The Principle of Increasing Risk’, Economica, 4:16, 1937.
- R. Ciccone, "Accumulation and capacity utilization: some critical considerations on Joan Robinson’s theory of distribution", Political Economy, 2:1, 1986.
- P. Garegnani, ‘Some notes for an analysis of accumulation’, in J. Halevi, D. Laibman and E. Nell (eds.), Beyond the steady state. A revival of growth theory, Macmillan, 1992.
- R. Ciccone, ‘Public debt and aggregate demand. Some unconventional analytics’, in E. S. Levrero, A. Palumbo and A. Stirati, Sraffa and the Reconstruction of Economic Theory, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.