Editing Piero Sraffa (section)

=== Cambridge years ===
{{More sources|date=September 2024}}
In 1927, Sraffa's yet undiscussed [[Theory of value (economics)|theory of value]], but also his friendship with [[Antonio Gramsci]]—a risky and compromising endeavour in the context of the [[Italy under fascism|Italian fascist regime]]—brought [[John Maynard Keynes]] to invite Sraffa to the [[University of Cambridge]], where the Italian economist was initially assigned a lectureship.

Sraffa arrived in July of [[1927]] and remained there for life. In the shelter of the English city, he held courses about [[Theory of value (economics)|advanced value theory]] in his first three years. Then, again with the help of Keynes, he held a librarian position and could devote himself to study, intertwining relationships with a series of intellectuals destined to leave remarkable and lasting tracks.

Together with [[Frank P. Ramsey]] and [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]], Sraffa joined the so-called [[cafeteria group]], an informal club that discussed [[A Treatise on Probability|Keynes's theory of probability]] and [[Friedrich Hayek]]'s theory of business cycles (see [[Sraffa–Hayek debate]]).

The economists that should at least be remembered are [[Michał Kalecki]] (1899–1970), [[Maurice Dobb]] (1900–1976), [[Joan Robinson]] (1903–1983) and [[Nicholas Kaldor]] (1908–1986). Among the philosophers, [[Frank P. Ramsey|Frank Plumpton Ramsey]] (1903–1930) was helpful during the initial elaboration of the equations, datable in 1928, of the book ''Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities'', which was published in 1960.

In the early thirties there was a controversy between Sraffa and Friedrich von Hayek, who published a criticism of Keynes's conclusions contained in ''[[A Treatise on Money]]'' (1930).<ref>Hayek (1931a; 1931b).</ref> After a first reply, Keynes asked Sraffa about writing a more detailed answer to Hayek's theses. Sraffa thoroughly analyzed the inconsistencies in the logic of Hayek's theory on the effect of forced capital savings caused by inflation and above all on the definition of natural interest rate. The debate continued with a reply by Hayek and a rejoinder by Sraffa.<ref>Sraffa (1932)</ref>

In 1939, Sraffa was elected to a fellowship at [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]]. [[Luigi Pasinetti]] identifies five stages of his work in Cambridge.

# 1928–1931: research on the history of economic theories, aimed at recovering the "reasonable" economics of the classics. Sraffa intends to "go straight to the unknown, from Marshall to Marx, from disutility to material cost ".
# 1931–1940: edition of [[David Ricardo]]'s works; almost ready for printing, they don't get published, both because the "Introduction" (written by Sraffa later) is missing, and because of the discovery of new documents, including all Ricardo's letters to James Mill. 
# 1941–1945: criticism of neoclassical economics, in particular of the theory of production and distribution of the theory of value (of prices), of the theory of [[marginal utility]] and of the theory of interest as a reward for abstinence; processing of his equations with surplus.
# 1946–1955: publication of the first ten volumes of Ricardo's works (the eleventh, containing the General Index, will be published in 1973). [[John Eatwell]] wrote of Sraffa's work on [[David Ricardo]]:<blockquote>[Sraffa's] reconstruction of Ricardo's surplus theory, presented in but a few pages of the introduction to his edition of Ricardo's ''Principles'', penetrated a hundred years of misunderstanding and distortion to create a vivid rationale for the structure and content of the surplus theory, for the analytical role of the labour theory of value, and hence for the foundations of Marx's critical analysis of capitalist production.<ref>Eatwell (1984). "Piero Sraffa: Seminal Economic Theorist." Science and Society, 48(2), pp. 211–216. JSTOR 40402578 Reprinted in Piero Sraffa: Critical Assessments, J. Wood J. C. Wood, 1995, v. 1, pp. 74–79.</ref></blockquote>
#1955–1960: preparation of Production of Goods by Means of Goods as mere "premise to a critique of political economy". The original project proved however too vast: of the historical part remains only an appendix of a few pages entitled "Note on the sources". In the Preface, Sraffa expresses his hope that the real criticism will be attempted "later, or by the author or someone younger and better equipped for the company".