A Revolution in Economic Theory

Reviews / Votes

"Drawing extensively on Sraffa's Cambridge archives, particularly his unpublished notes, Ajit Sinha reveals Sraffa's struggle - philosophical, methodological and technical - on the road towards the brief formulation in Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities (1960). Sinha puts paid thereby to alternative readings of that enigmatic work, including that of the late Pierangelo Garegnani, Sraffa's student and the leading Sraffian commentator. Sinha's concern with the philosophical underpinnings of the discipline and his dissatisfaction with technicality for its own sake reflect a broadness of intellectual vision that would serve well any economics program taking the history of thought seriously." (Samuel Hollander, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, Canada, and Officer of the Order of Canada)

"The two main features of Ajit Sinha's book show the fundamental nature of itscontribution to economic analysis and history of economic thought. On the one hand, the author offers a complete and thorough reconstruction and interpretation of Sraffa's works, including his unpublished papers. On the other hand, it strongly contributes to the recent revival of the economists' debates on the meaning of Sraffa's contribution to economics, especially and unusually stressing the importance of its philosophical underpinnings." (Richard Arena, Professor of Economics, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France)