Political Economy of Resources, Technologies, and Rent

Explaining structural change: actions and transformations

“…In this case, the same structural change trajectory may show alternating phases of decreasing and increasing returns depending on whether the dominating influence is the switch to less effective (i.e., costlier) technique or the possibility of using residuals to increase the economy's growth rate. The cleavage between what is feasible under any given set of productive interdependencies and what can happen depending on institutional conditions and actors' objectives is a characteristic feature of this investigation (Quadrio Curzio and Pellizzari, 2018). The structural dynamics trajectory followed by any given economy is shown to reflect both the technological interdependencies between production processes and the institutional and historical conditions influencing the objectives of "macro decision-makers" and the actual sequence by which production structures are changed.…”

“…However, proportionality conditions and availability constraints are not enough to determine the trajectory the economy will follow under given circumstances. The Ricardian decreasing returns trajectory is only one of the different structural dynamics the economy may follow when the set of techniques is given and the availability of primary (non-produced) resources is limited, depending on different assumptions about institutions and actions (Scazzieri, 1993;Quadrio Curzio and Pellizzari, 2018).…”

Generalising the political economy of structural change: A Structural Political Economy approach

“…6 Sraffa (1960) , in contrast, calls attention to the conflict between profit and wage concerning distribution of a given net product. Another example is the distributive conflict between wages, profits and rents in Quadrio Curzio's (and earlier, David Ricardo's) model of a growing economy subject to scarcities ( Quadrio Curzio, 1967 , 1986; Quadrio Curzio and Pellizzari, 2009 ; see also Quadrio Curzio and Pellizzari, 2018 ; Scazzieri et al., 2015 ). However, as mentioned above, in other models conflicts could take place between industries.…”

Industrial policy for sustainable human development in the post-Covid19 era

“…Theories of structural change 22 explain how economic dynamics entails changes across system components, among which the centrality of production processes is pivotal. Recent contributions in the theoretical debate ( Cardinale and Scazzieri, 2018 , Quadrio Curzio and Pellizzari, 2018 ) argue that structural change is to some degree open-ended, because existing structures open up a range of possibilities, but do not determine the specific actions taken therein.…”

“…In this regard, Luigi Pasinetti’s ‘separation theorem’ ( Pasinetti, 2007 ) distinguishes between a fundamental level of investigation that addresses the persistent and general features of an industrial economy, and a level of investigation addressing features of economic structures that are more contingent and likely to reflect specific historical and institutional contexts. Such a distinction highlights the open-endedness of structural constraints and the plurality of trajectories the economy may follow subject to any given set of productive interdependencies and institutional conditions, and depending upon the human actions (primarily including industrial policy) undertaken to drive the economy along a specific trajectory ( Quadrio Curzio & Pellizzari, 2018 ).…”