Learning, Innovation, Increasing Returns and Resource Creation: Luigi Pasinetti's 'Original Sin' of, and Clarion Call for a Post-Classical, Economics

45 Pages Posted: 2 Oct 2012 Last revised: 21 Dec 2015

See all articles by Christos N. Pitelis

Christos N. Pitelis

Head of International Business Department

Date Written: September 1, 2015

Abstract

We draw on the seminal contribution to economics by Luigi Pasinetti. We respond to his clarion call to reverse what he called the “original sin” of classical economists, (the assumption of non-increasing returns to scale) exacerbated later by neo-classical economists and move towards developing a post-classical economics. We outline the contours of a post-classical framework that draws on key themes and contributions from Pasinetti on learning, technical progress, increasing returns, resource creation, trade and catching up, and contributions from within and without Economics that are in line with, lend support to, and challenge it. We advocate the pressing need and opportune timing for a concerted effort to revitalize ideas from the once vibrant “Cambridge School” of economics, and help develop a fresh, more pluralist and inclusive post-classical economics that cuts across divides and opens up new research avenues.

Keywords: Pasinetti, learning, technical progress, increasing returns, resource creation, post-classical economics

JEL Classification: O3, O4, F43

Suggested Citation

Pitelis, Christos N., Learning, Innovation, Increasing Returns and Resource Creation: Luigi Pasinetti's 'Original Sin' of, and Clarion Call for a Post-Classical, Economics (September 1, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2155692 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2155692

Christos N. Pitelis (Contact Author)

Head of International Business Department ( email )

Leeds, LS2 9JT
United Kingdom

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