John Eatwell in memoriam Pierangelo Garegnani Rome, 24th February 2012

Recibimos de nuestra colega Julieta Biasotti, -quien asistió a la conferencia en honor a Pierangelo Garegnani -el detalle y contenidos de la reunión.

 El orador principal,  John Eatwell presentó su trabajo “The Theory of Value and the Foundations of Economic Policy”   en el que expone y resalta puntos centrales de la obra de Garegnani, reconsiderando algunos de sus resultados críticos tanto con respecto a la teoría neo-walrasiana como con respecto a la demanda efectiva, el corto y largo plazo, el core clásico y su falta de predicamento, y la necesidad de salir del core para dar una visión mas amplia con mayores componentes historicos y sociales.

Nos escribe Julieta:  

"Aprovechando la posibilidad de reunir grandes economistas italianos heterodoxos con motivo de la Lecture que realizo John Eatwell en honor a Pierangelo Garegnani, se desarrollo un día antes en la Università degli Studi di Roma Tre, un encuentro del “Gruppo di studio su temi di politica economica e crisi europea”.

Abarcó temas específicos como la evolución de las crisis europea y financiera global, el modelo italiano de crecimiento y su actual crisis, y temas de más amplio aspecto como el rol de la izquierda italiana en la economía, capitalismo y desarrollo sostenible.

El Economista Gennaro Zezza presentó un trabajo, “Saldi finanziari, moltiplicatore, e le proposte della Modern Monetary Theory", que rompió el hielo de una rica y profunda discusión sobre estos temas tomando como base, también, los últimos papers y post publicados por Wray, Lavoie, Minsky, Godley y Aldo Barba, entre otros. Se encontraban presentes los profesores Cavaglieri, Cesaratto, Ciccone, Palumbo, Pivetti, Stirati  y muchos más prestigiosos economistas críticos italianos.

Al día siguiente se sumaron a este elenco: el Profesor Luigi Pasinetti, quien emocionó con sus anécdotas con Garegnani,- Antonietta Campus, Paolo Leon, Alberto Quadrio Curzio y Aldo Tortorella. Y por supuesto, John Eatwell, con su lección sobre: “The Theory of Value and the Foundations of Economic Policy”.

Quiero agradecer muy especialmente al Prof Ricardo Soliani de la Università degli Studi di Genova por invitarme a participar del “Convegno” ".

Introducción de Eatwell:

"Almost exactly two years ago my wife Suzi organized a dinner party for friends, here in Rome, to celebrate my 65 ^th Birthday. Piero Garegnani was there and I had the opportunity: in a short speech at the end of the meal, to record my enormous intellectual debt to him. I had the opportunity both to say “thank you”, and to make clear that I really meant it.

It is no exaggeration to say that my encounter with Garegnani’s Ph.D. dissertation in the Cambridge University Library in 1970 shaped my entire view of what economics is about, how it should be done, and what it is for. I came to understand Piero Sraffa through the lens of Garegnani. I came to understand Keynes through the lens of Garegnani. And, as a result of many, often difficult, discussions with Garegnani, I began to clarify and understand my own thinking on economics.

In this lecture I hope to convey some of my initial excitement on reading that Ph.D. dissertation, later published in Italian as Il Capitale nelle Teorie della Distribuzione. And 40 years on, I will attempt to place the arguments of the Ph.D. dissertation in the context of Piero’s later work, and, on a topic that may surprise some of you, in the context of economic policy. After all, economics is not purely a mental like pure mathematics or chess. Economics is meant to be useful.

In developing the argument I will occasionally identify points at which disagree with Garegnani. When I first started putting lecture together I felt a little guilty about this. Am I taking advantage of the fact that Piero is not here, knowing, that if he were here I would have to defend myself against the toughest imaginable examination of the logic of my arguments? I think so. I know that Piero liked nothing better that a serious argument about economics. And I am unembarrassed about being critical, because it is Piero’s own work that forms the starting point of my criticism. As Sir Isaac Newton famously wrote: “If have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”."


To read the paper "The Theory of Value and the Foundations of Economic Policy” HERE or HERE


To watch the  video of the conference  HERE  (Eatwell begins after minute 30)

In memory of Pierangelo Garegnani and the Pierangelo Garegnani Memorial Lecture

AF