| Research Abstract |
The present study aims to show how economic system is influenced by technical change, for example,-mechanization, when fixed capital is explicitly introduced into the model. The topic is discussed in depth with major focuses on the Post-Classical approach, in which Sraffa was a pioneer, and the Neo-Austrian approach, in which Hicks played a leading role.
To begin with, I examined Okishio Theorem in order to clarify the validity of its logic, which states that the rising rate of equilibrium profit results from mechanization, and of its analytic framework. However, in the course of the research, it became clear that many more elements had to be considered in connection with the first stage of mechanization than was first thought. To clarify the relations among these elements, I conducted a survey on Ricardo's machine problem, an early example of the study that systematically treated mechanization problem in production processes. The outcome of this survey is the paper titled 'Technical ch
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ange and employment' (Hirano, 2007a).
It discusses the theory of compensation originating from Say's law, Marx's fatal factor of Capitalistic Systems, objections by the principle of substitution, a logical puzzle by Morishima, Adolph Lowe's traverse analysis, a Neo-Austrian Model by Hicks, and some related topics.
I also investigated Wicksell, who criticized Ricardo's machine problem and presented an instructive fixed capital model. He was the marginalist critique of Ricardo's machine problem, but, on the other hand, he presented a new framework for the treatment of fixed capital for both the Post-Classical approach and the Neo-Austrian approach. I examined his analysis particularly in relation to the Post-Classical approach on fixed capital. The result of this work is presented in the paper "Capital' and a Structure of Self-replacement' (Hirano, 2006).
In the Post-Classical approach, economic system is characteristically recognized as an interdependent structure consisting of asymmetrical concepts, production and consumption. Based on this view, I developed the concept of 'three spheres of the significance of working'. The details are discussed in the paper "Skilled labor 'in a broad sense and the problem of inequalities' (Hirano, 2007b). Less
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