Part of a Symposium entitled, "Say's Law Revisited," this note is dedicated to showing that both Say's and Ricardo's concerns about unemployment were deeper than even the Kates article (in this symposium) suggests, that this concern even led Say to advocate a clear Keynesian remedy for...

When the Classical economists asserted the "impossibility of general overproduction," or what we now call Say's Law of Markets, they had in mind not periodic crises or business cycles but secular stagnation. Could the capitalist system absorb the constant increases in output without breakdown...

This paper analyzes Adam Smith's theory of charity toward the poor. Two sources of private charity market failure are identified which lend support to the view that Smith's writings justify government intervention on behalf of the poor. First, the poor tend to conceal their condition out of...

This note summarizes the symposium, "Say's Law Revisited." The most remarkable achievement of the symposium has been the manner in which it has cleared away important parts of the mythology which has surrounded Say's Law since the publication of the "General Theory". It is clear that what is...

The meaning of Say's Law may seem an issue of little relevance to economists today. It would seem, on the face of it, of interest only to historians of economics. Whatever Say's Law might mean, the one thing we economists know, or at least think we know, is that it was comprehensively refuted by...

Although Ricardo may be the first to give a numerical demonstration of debt neutrality, we argue that he is not the first to explore the concept. In particular, we contend that Adam Smith presents many of the same arguments as Ricardo. Moreover, Smith frames the equivalence issue in the same...

In this paper we compare the classical general equilibrium framework of Smith and Marx with the neoclassical one of Arrow and Debreu, and find that these competing paradigms of equilibrium clash on a number of critical issues--efficiency, power, the role of markets, time, the nature of...

Economists can to some extent enlighten policymakers and the public and influence public policy. That enlightenment is achieved more by concrete policy work and application of basics than by fancy models and fancy statistical significance. There is a trade-off between relevance/importance and...

Economists can to some extent enlighten policymakers and the public and influence public policy. That enlightenment is achieved more by concrete policy work and application of basics than by fancy models and fancy statistical significance. There is a trade-off between relevance/importance and...