Suchergebnisse

The focus of this essay is the treatment of the firm in neoclassical economics and, in particular, the possibility of such a treatment. Its critical result is the impossibility of introducing the firm into neoclassical thought and thus the necessity of transcending the confines of this thought for the construction of a theory of the firm. The last section of this essay turns to the Marxian tradition for a concept of the firm. The outlines of a Marxian treatment of the firm are pre sented as well as the key differences between this treatment and that of neoclas sical economics.

"In the early economic writings economics is seen as an efficient tool to commit moral values. Nevertheless
the modern interpretation of classical economists uses their ideas to line up a moral-free economic
theory. In this way the modern interpretation of classical economic theory is based at least on three
fundamental misunderstandings: first a historical misunderstanding, i.e. the belief, that classical
economic theory is a result of a development from moral science to economic science, second a theoretical
misunderstanding, i.e. the assumption, that classical economic theory is designed as a model for social
structures in whole society, and third a conceptual misunderstanding, i.e. the opinion, that classical
theory has sketched a normative ideal that should guide political rules. It can be shown, that none of
these interpretations is actually based on classical theory." (author's abstract)

The object of this book is to present a complete, systematic and thorough exposition of the neoclassical theory of production and distribution. Despite this basic objective, each chapter presents extensions of neoclassical theory and interpretations of established relations. The book has two distinct parts. In Part I the microeconomic theories of production, cost and derived input demand are explored in depth for both fixed-proportions and variable-proportions production functions. Special emphasis is placed upon the characteristics and implications of production functions homogeneous of degree one. Part II is devoted chiefly to the neoclassical theory of aggregate relative factor shares, the elasticity of substitution, and technological progress