Dear HES-ers,
I have recently concluded the first draft of a monograph on "The
Making of Harrod's Dynamics", which is now in print in a working papers
series in order to circulate it. I have printed a few copies in excess to
the number of readers I know to be interested in my essay, so that if any
HES-er could care to read it, I would be glad to send him/her a copy, and
would really be grateful to anyone who could let me have his/her comments.
In order to give you a rough idea as to the subject matter, here
follows the table of contents; however, I will be glad to provide any
additional information.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword and Acknowledgements vii
Preface viii
INTRODUCTION: the story of a failure 1
1. Harrod's dynamics and its canonical interpretations 1
2. The prize to be won: the pertinence of the approach 5
3. A case study 9
4. Harrod's dynamics in its making 14
5. The cultural memory 20
6. A guided visit through a decade of debates 31
Part One - Prolegomena
Ch. I Imperfect Competition and the Possibility of Trade Cycle
Theorising 32
1. Towards a general theory of value 34
2. Imperfect competition and the phenomenology of the trade cycle 38
3. Increasing returns, instability, and the possibility of a dynamic theory
41
4. Imperfect competition and economic dynamics 44
Ch. II Money, Prices and Productivity in a Progressive Society:
Activities, 1932-34 49
1. Price fluctuations and the trade cycle: 1925-27 50
1.1. Prices and distribution 50
1.2. Prices and production 52
2. Cheap money and budget deficit 53
3. Unemployment and the trade cycle 60
4. The advancing community 76
5. Harrod's dynamics in 1934 84
Ch. III Harrod on Saving and Investment, 1934-35 86
1. Harrod on Hayek's forced saving process 87
2. Robertson and the 'Grand monetary tautology' 94
3. Haberler on saving, hoarding and velocity of circulation 98
4. Kahn and the 'simple minded' definition of saving 100
5. The simultaneous identity between saving and investment 105
6. An ex-ante/ex-post interpretation of the debate 111
7. Harrod's trade cycle analysis before the General Theory 112
Ch. IV Towards The Trade Cycle 114
1. The accelerator 115
2. Saving, investment and the General Theory 120
3. The review of Durbin's Problem of Credit Policy 122
4. Prices and finance 124
5. Chronology 127
Part Two - Developments
Ch. V Statics and Dynamics in The Trade Cycle 133
1. The Trade Cycle 135
2. Static and dynamic forces, and equilibrium 140
3. Statics versus dynamics 147
4. The link between static and dynamic laws 158
Ch. VI Arguing out The Trade Cycle 163
1. Real and monetary analysis. 164
1.1. Money and prices 164
1.2. Velocity of circulation as a link between statics and dynamics 168
1.3. Harrod on Keynes on prices and money 175
2. The rate of interest and investment decisions 182
2.1. The rate of interest in The Trade Cycle 182
2.2. Saving, investment, and the rate of change of the interest rate 186
2.3. Harrod and the Oxford Economists' Research Group on the rate of
interest 188
3. The hidden face of investment: deepening 193
3.1. Investment and capital intensity 194
3.2. The classification of inventions 201
3.3. Interest, wages and round-aboutness 207
4. The return of saving and investment 210
Ch. VII Interlude: Harrod on Method 217
1. Axioms and basic empirical laws 218
2. Harrod and Keynes on models and 'the external world' 229
3. Instantaneous and sequential analysis: Harrod and the econometricians
234
Ch. VIII From a Dynamics of Causes to a Dynamics of Effects: The "Essay
in Dynamic Theory" 240
1. Chronology 241
2. Basics of the model 244
3. The fundamental equation 245
4. The Accelerator: actual, normal and equilibrium values 248
5. The topic Harrod and Keynes actually discussed: the validity clause for
the fundamental equation 254
6. The topic Harrod and Keynes ought to have discussed: instantaneous
analysis 259
7. Ex-ante and ex-post: more about the accelerator 264
8. The case of a failure 267
Ch. IX Beyond the Traditional Economics 273
1. Years of high criticism 274
2. Sraffa's criticism and Harrod's imperfect competition 276
3. Harrod and Keynes on saving, investment, and the rate of interest 278
4. Statics as a generalisation of traditional theory 282
5. Dynamics as a complement to statics: a further generalisation 285
6. Instability as a premise of Harrod's dynamics 290
7. Beyond traditional theory 294
References 303
1. Unpublished sources 303
1.1. Correspondence with Harrod 303
1.2. Other correspondence 308
1.3. Unpublished papers and other materials 308
2. Published sources 310
For any additional information, please contact me privately at the
following address:
Daniele Besomi
c.p. 6
6953 Lugaggia
Switzerland
Tel. & fax: +41 91 913635
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