Roy Harrod, la concorrenza imperfetta e la possibilità di una teoria dinamica


Studi Economici, 50, pp. 41-70.




-Abstract : Roy Harrod: statics, dynamics, and imperfect competition -



Roy Harrod was one of the young economists who developed the analytical tools to deal with imperfect competition. As with most of those engaged in this research, Harrod ignored Sraffa's criticisms regarding the inconsistency of the Marshallian approach; rather, he felt that partial equilibrium analysis was adequate to fulfil its own task and that produced by market imperfections, if appropriately generalized by introducing sloping demand curves. The first aim of this essay is thus to examine Harrod's contribution in this light.

The second purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of this aspect of Harrod's thought on the factual content and the method of his dynamics In fact Harrod believed that the generalized theory of value could account for certain phenomena of the cycle that were inconsistent with the events predicted by the traditional approach, and therefore saw the possibility of extending its domain of application.