Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities in a Mathematical Mode

Abstract

The claim in this paper is that Sraffa employed a rigorous logic of mathematical reasoning in his book, Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities (PCC), in such a mode that all existence proofs were constructive. This is the kind of mathematics that was prevalent at the beginning of the 19th century, which was dominated by the concrete, the constructive and the algorithmic. It is, therefore, completely consistent with the economics of the 19th century, which was the fulcrum around which the economics of PCC is centred.