From the effective demand as a principle to the ownership of the capital as social responsibility : rereading Luigi Pasinetti

This paper tries to highlight some essential elements that emerge from Luigi Pasinetti's work. Much of the research project that Pasinetti developed, especially in the 1981 book, was already present in nuce in the 1974 collection of essays. Here the theory of effective demand is presented for the first time, emphasizing the essential differences between sequential and simultaneous economic reasoning. The relevance of structural change is already apparent, and will be explored in a multisectoral scheme only in the 1981 book. The main insights that can be drawn from Pasinetti's reflections on open economic systems and his ethical stance suggest that ownership of the means of production not only confers rights but it also imposes responsibilities on the community.