Constant returns to scale (CRS) is one of the corner-stones of the competitive general equilibrium paradigm of neoclassical economics. This note argues that the equilibrium solutions of this paradigm are not compatible with CRS. CRS implies that all producers (whatever their scale of production)...

The paper analyzes Adam Smith’s views on monopoly focusing on Book IV and V of The Wealth of Nations and argues that Smith has left his analysis of monopoly in an embryonic form while the majority of scholars have assessed it starting from premises different from those, actually though...

We compare and analyse two different conceptions of market competition: the walrasian notion of perfect competition and the Classical notion of free competition: while the former may be described as an equilibrium state in which atomistic agents treat prices parametrically, the latter is a...

Italian Abstract: In questo saggio intendo analizzare il tema del buon governo nelle opere di Adam Smith, la cui importanza sembra non aver ricevuto la dovuta attenzione. La ricostruzione è guidata da tre ipotesi ermeneutiche riguardanti il ruolo svolto dall'idea di buon governo nello sviluppo...

From Adam Smith’s perspective, the most prominent macroeconomic happening of the post-World War II period was not the Great Moderation, nor was it the recent Great Recession. Instead, it was the secular deceleration in economic growth occurring in the U.S., or the Great Deceleration. Smith’s...

This paper uses the mode of production of the hunter-gatherers as a background to explain basic economic concepts, in particular the meaning of the labour theory of value and it's relationship to optimization of resources. A proof of the marginal value theorem is presented. A new term is...

The Tenth Annual Report published by "Sos Impresa", an Antiracket Association, notices that the organized crime is ah heavy "ballast" in the Southern Italian Economy: "Mafia Business makes annual revenues for 90 mln €, about the 6% ofItalian GDP". This work presents a reading of the organized...

Adam Smith is generally ignored as a trade theorist in textbooks of international economics because of the common belief that he only confirmed the rule of absolute advantages to explain structure of foreign trade. However, his vent-for-surplus approach may be interpreted as a pioneering study...

This discourse explores and illuminates a fundamental problem, the Achilles' heel, which dominates the hedgefund industry: namely, that hedgefunds no are not positioned to accomplish what they were designed to do: namely, hedge against catastrophic loss in the financial markets. Contemporary...

This paper works out some of the basic properties of an economy with energy as a factor of production. The economy now consists of streams of energy conversions that direct energy to the production of goods and services. The focus on energy generates a variety of insights. It yields a new...