Read more
Zusatztext In contrast to some books! this one's subject is described accurately by the title. It represents a very ambitious undertaking. Klappentext This book presents a new analytical framework the theory of production. It is based upon a rigorous reconstruction of the intellectual heritage of economics, but focuses upon issues that are traditionally left aside by economists, such as the distinction between three dimensions of the production process (tasks, capabilities, materials in process), the organizational approach to scale and size, and the idea that different institutional set-ups may be compatible with a given 'objective' standard of efficiency. This study thus fills an important gap in the existing theoretical literature on productive structures. Part One presents the general conceptual framework and investigates its roots in the received tradition of economic theory. Part Two expounds the pure theory of tasks and processes in which important features of the production structure are considered independently of agents' capabilities and materials' characteristics. Part Three explicitly introduces agents and materials, and argues that the gradual opening up of the above 'hierarchical' theory of production to institutional and historical elements provides an invaluable insight into the relative importance of factors moulding the actual forms of productive organization and processes of structural change. Zusammenfassung Investigates theories of production, concentrating on process and scale. Roberto Scazzieri presents a literature survey, develops his own theoretical framework, and applies his theory to recent economic history. It is based upon a rigorous reconstruction of the intellectual heritage of economics. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction and plan of the volume; Part I: Theoretical Perspectives on Process and Scale: The analytical representation of productive activity; Scale and technical practice: A rational reconstruction; Part II: A Task-Process Theory of Production: The elements of production processes and the role of time; Scale-technology expansion; Scale-technology contraction; Scale, technology and technical behaviour; Scale and productive efficiency; Part III: The Analysis of Scale and Productive Size: The relation of scale and size and its historical development; Conclusion - Tasks, processes, and the economic system....
