L'evolution de la théorie de la valeur et de la répartititon de Jean Baptiste Say et la relation qu'elle a avec la tradition classique

This paper compares Say’s theory of value and distribution with the issues proposed by Smith and Ricardo, giving evidence to its legacy from (and its contrast with) the Classical tradition. In the first part the relation established by Say between the “cost of production” theory of value and the reckoning of value according to the strenght of demand is briefly discussed. The source of this link is traced in the theory of rent that can be found in the Wealth of Nations, which Say offers a broad interpretation of. Then evidence is given that the actual basis of Say’s theory of value is the independent setting of wage, rent and (individual entrepreneurial) profit according to the forces of supply and demand for goods and, by this way, for productive services. Therefore Say might be considered as a connection between (in Marx’s words) the “exoteric” side of Smith and Vulgaroekonomie. The second part of the paper is devoted to pointing out the changes introduced from the first to the subsequent editions of Traité and the way along which Say departed from the Classical tradition. The theory of distribution included in the first edition is shown to be closer to the “surplus approach” that would be built up few years later. There indeed demand plays no role in distribution, which is told to depend on the relative scarcity of labour, capital and land; but a more careful analysis reveals that Say regards only the latter as the actually rare factor of production, since capital can be easily augmented and labour is very often superabundant. This leads Say to an asymmetrical theory of distribution, so that the relative scarcity of the three means of production is in fact much less important than it could appear. On the contrary, in subsequent editions Say would turn towards the “supply and demand” explanation of distribution; so the divergence from the Classical approach brings him back in the wake of Italian and French tradition since Galiani and Condillac, who are briefly recalled.