ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that, in spite of the dramatic change of paradigm that long excluded some of Smith's most interesting insights from economic analysis (growth, increasing returns, endogenous technical change), the "old" or early neoclassicals retained the classical conception of "normal" prices of production based on a uniform rate of profit. It explains how relative prices change with distribution using Ricardo's invariable measure of value. The book also investigates the relation between the role played by money in the economy and the genesis of crises. It deals with Hicks's representation of the working of a monetary economy, and in particular with the alleged contradiction to be seen, according to secondary literature, between monetary theory in his early writings and in his later works in the same area.
