Keynes And Sraffa on own-rates: a present-day misunderstanding

grieve, h. roy;

Scholars, who in recent years have studied the Sraffa papers held in the Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, have concluded from Sraffa�s critical�though unpublished�observations on Chapter 17 of Keynes�s General Theory that he rejected Keynes�s central proposition that the rate of interest on money may come to �rule the roost�, thus dragging the economy into recession. While Sraffa does express dissatisfaction with Chapter 17, the commentators have, we believe, misunderstood his concern: we suggest he was unhappy with Keynes�s use of �own-rates� rather than with the substance of the theory developed in Chapter 17.