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Cambridge Journal of Economics 25:749-763 (2001)
Copyright © 2001 Cambridge Political Economy Society

Article

Piero Sraffa on utility and the ‘subjective method’ in the 1920s: a tentative appraisal of Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts

Rodolfo Signorino

University of Naples Federico II

Abstract

The paper reconstructs Sraffa's assessment of utility-based and individualistic explanations of demand in Marshallian economics in the light of some fresh evidence provided by Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts of the 1920s. It is shown that Sraffa criticised the standard Marshallian explanation of individual consumption choices, emphasised the independent measurement requirement in explanation, lacked enthusiasm for the heuristic potentialities of the ‘subjective method’ in economic theorising and strove for an analysis of the phenomena of interdependence in the sphere of production as well as in the sphere of consumption.

Key Words: Utility • Objective theory of value • Methodological individualism


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