This paper goes through the main classical authors’ positions on the virtues and the limitations of both competition and socialism. The first section retrieves the evolution of socialistic ideas in England until the first half of the nineteenth century, highlighting Owen’s thesis. After...

This paper assesses Pigou's theories of industrial fluctuations and employment according to the orthodoxy prevailing in the 20's and 30's of the twentieth century. Firstly, we review the conceptions on the economic cycle prevailing during the inter-war years and their inner connections with the...

This paper deals with the debate which opposed Sismondi and the Ricardian economists, in the first half of the nineteenth century, on the equilibrium of markets, the role of competition and the effects of machinery in industrial societies. At the initial section, the main content of Sismondi?s...