Periodic Crises of Overproduction (1913)

The aim of Albert Aftalion’s Periodic Crises of Overproduction is to lay the analytical building blocks of a medium-term approach to the theory and policy of economic fluctuations. Aftalion builds his theory on a disaggregated (structural) representation of the economic system that overcomes the conventional micro-macro dichotomy. This analysis eschews both the explanation of crises in terms of cumulative processes triggered by long-term factors and that in terms of purely contingent mismatches and ruptures. Aftalion highlights features such as lack of synchronization between sectors, different time horizons between socio-economic groups, and dissimilar speeds of change between production and consumption units. His approach draws key analytical concepts (such as the accelerator principle) from a detailed investigation of the interdependencies and temporal asymmetries of an industrial economy. It is an enlightening complement to Keynes’ General Theory.

Ivano Cardinale is Senior Lecturer in Economics at Goldsmiths, University of London. He also lectures on the history of economic thought at the Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. He is currently resides in London, UK.

D’Maris Coffman is Professor in Economics and Finance, Head of Department and Director of the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management at University College London. She is currently resides in London, UK.

Roberto Scazzieri is Professor of Economic Analysis at the University of Bologna; Fellow of the National Lincei Academy, Rome; a Senior Member of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; and Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge. He is currently resides in Bologna, Italy.