ABSTRACT
Among the four classics discussed in this book, Sraffa’s Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities (PCMC) is the thinnest by several times, is the least ambiguous in what it says, and perhaps the most beautiful in its construction. The precision of his writing is extraordinary. One would be hardpressed to find a superfluous word or even a punctuation mark in the entire book: it is as if the book is a display of minimalist art in economic prose. No less a personality than Paul Samuelson, one of Sraffa’s great admirers and critics, once wrote: ‘His [Sraffa’s] pen writes as if a lawyer were at hand to ensure that no vulnerable sentence appears’ (Samuelson 2000a: 134, f.n. 7). Yet, even after about half-a-century of its publication, the book has, to a large extent, remained a closed one for both his critics and followers alike.1 The greatest difficulty in understanding this book lies precisely in the precision of its expression. The book is composed as if it were a Beethoven sonata, with silences
1 In one of the earliest reviews of the book, Sir Roy Harrod wrote: ‘The publication of this book is a notable event. ... A reviewer would be presumptuous if he supposed that he could give a final assessment of the value of its net product, or even single out what may prove to be its most lasting contributions. Before that result could be achieved, much prolonged consideration and reconsideration would be required.’ (Harrod 1961: 783). In another review, Maurice Dobb wrote: ‘It can be confidently said that never in the history of economic theory has so much fundamental and formally refined thought, and of so pathbreaking a character, been packed into so slender and elegant a volume.
