Università Roma Tre

The course aims to go to the foundations of the theories of value and distribution to provide students who already have an initial knowledge of micro and macroeconomics with the tools to orient themselves, on the one hand, in the comparison between the main theories of value and distribution (or 'micro' theory) and, on the other hand, in understanding the implications that these theories have as regards the determination of the general level of production (or 'macro' theory).

The course is divided into two parts. The first part is dedicated to a comparison between the classical theory and the neoclassical (marginalist) theory of value and distribution. Particular attention is given to the reconstruction of the structure of the latter theory, presented in the general equilibrium version of Wicksell and Walras, and to the difficulties that this theory encounters in treating capital as a factor of production.

The second part is dedicated to the determination of the general level of production in the two theoretical settings. Particular attention is given to the reconstruction of the Keynesian Revolution, through a direct reading of some parts of Keynes' General Theory, and to the discussion of the elements that favored its reabsorption in the Neoclassical Synthesis.