An Approach To The Theory Of Income Distribution

This book brings together the work of scholars who have written for it independent essays in their areas of particular expertise in the general field of income distribution. The first eight chapters provide a review of the major theories of income distribution, while the final two are con cerned with problems of empirical estimates and inferences. One of these chapters presents estimates of factor shares in national income in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, while the other ex amines how relationships between the size distribution of income and economic development are being investigated. A convenient way of conveying an understanding of how economic theorists have dealt with the distribution of income is to examine separ ately each major approach to this subject. Each contributor was thus assigned a particular approach, or a major theorist. No attempt was made to avoid the apparent duplication that occurs when the same references are examined by different contributors. The reader gains by seeing how the same material can be treated by those looking at it from different perspectives. A chapter each has been devoted to Marx and Marshall.

This is a well-grounded restatement, defense, and development of the theory of income distribution in both its micro- and macroeconomic aspects. The author, an authority in the field who has spent many years developing the ideas in this book, balances neoclassical theories with Keynesian and ""radical"" approaches. He considers income distribution theory in terms of ideology, statistics, micro- and macroeconomics, income policies, and the poverty problem. The result is a distinctive and comprehensive treatment of a subject that has polarized many economists over many decades. Bronfenbrenner reacts against conventional theories that concentrate on output markets, virtually ignoring input prices. He also opposes the brand of institutionalism that regards ""democratic business unionism"" as an American institution that can do no wrong. Overall, Bronfenbrenner presents an eclectic defense of a ""traditional"" theory of economics that has been under attack from rival viewpoints with insufficient rebuttal, and that proves to be a powerful tool of analysis in dealing with this subject. The book is organized into three main parts: an ideological and statistical personal introduction to income distribution, microeconomic distribution theory, and macroeconomic distribution theory. A final chapter considers incomes policies, with a rather skeptical view of the prospects for political control of income distribution within a basically free economy. The manuscript has been widely used and class tested over the past thirty-five years. The book will be useful to professional economists. It may be used as a basic text in courses on income distribution and as a supplementary text in microeconomic theory.

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This is a well-grounded restatement, defense, and development of the theory of income distribution in both its micro- and macroeconomic aspects. The author, an authority in the field who has spent many years developing the ideas in this book, balances neoclassical theories with Keynesian and "radical" approaches. He considers income distribution theory in terms of ideology, statistics, micro- and macroeconomics, income policies, and the poverty problem. The result is a distinctive and comprehensive treatment of a subject that has polarized many economists over many decades. Bronfenbrenner reacts against conventional theories that concentrate on output markets, virtually ignoring input prices. He also opposes the brand of institutionalism that regards "democratic business unionism" as an American institution that can do no wrong. Overall, Bronfenbrenner presents an eclectic defense of a "traditional" theory of economics that has been under attack from rival viewpoints with insufficient rebuttal, and that proves to be a powerful tool of analysis in dealing with this subject. The book is organized into three main parts: an ideological and statistical personal introduction to income distribution, microeconomic distribution theory, and macroeconomic distribution theory. A final chapter considers incomes policies, with a rather skeptical view of the prospects for political control of income distribution within a basically free economy. The manuscript has been widely used and class tested over the past thirty-five years. The book will be useful to professional economists. It may be used as a basic text in courses on income distribution and as a supplementary text in microeconomic theory.

"This book investigates the relationship between wages, profits, values and labour employment from a classical-Keynesian perspective. The starting point of this approach is classical political economy (in particular, Smith, Ricardo and Marx), suitably reformulated in modern terms by Sraffa, and then integrated with the Keynesian theory of employment. Such an approach proves to be more appropriate in understanding the complexities of current economies, and in identifying the instruments to pursue the final goal of economic systems: putting each person in a position to earn what is necessary to live with dignity. The approach undertaken by these chapters is in contrast to the 'marginalist' or 'neoclassical' school, which constitutes the mainstream of economic analysis. Especially in recent decades, several critical analyses of the present state of economic research have emerged due to the failure of contemporary economic analysis to acutely penetrate and guide the workings of actual economic systems. But these analyses have not always been effectively presented in a coordinated manner. This work presents one possible unifying framework - grounded in a solid tradition of economic thought - which aims to describe the basic forces operating in capitalistic economies and to identify the main objectives to pursue in production economies in order to fully exploit their potential. Most importantly, the focus of such classical-Keyensian analysis concerns the production of goods and services, and this book shows how several factors typical of contemporary (post-)industrial societies thus can be understood in a way that the standard economic theory has not been able to explicate (due to the reduction of everything to a question of exchange). The book provides key reading for those on master level economics courses. Moreover, it constitutes a solid introduction to modern classical-Keynesian analysis. It may also be of interest to readers who are keen to develop a critical view of economics, political economy and history of economic thought. Enrico Bellino is Full Professor of Political Economy at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy"--

Piero Ferri expertly broadens the analysis of the canonical growth cycle approach by presenting a Minsky–Harrod model, examining how the relationship between income distribution, growth and unemployment becomes increasingly complex. Exploring this new technique to generate a process of growth, based not only on history but disequilibrium, he investigates the current income distribution debate further and the challenges it faces.