Attilio Trezzini

Bio: Attilio Trezzini is an academic researcher from Roma Tre University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Aggregate demand & Consumption (economics). The author has an hindex of 9, co-authored 26 publications receiving 311 citations. Previous affiliations of Attilio Trezzini include University of Turin.

Growth without normal capacity utilization

Abstract: Within the demand-led approach to growth, the long-period tendencies of quantities cannot be effectively studied through theoretical positions entailing normal utilization of capacity. Whether in the form of constant or of average normal utilization, this assumption contradicts the supposed autonomy of aggregate demand. Analysis of the operation of the adjustment of capacity to demand suggests that potentially offsetting forces make fully adjusted positions irrelevant. As quantities cannot be assumed to gravitate towards such positions, the relations between quantity variables determined on the normal utilization hypothesis provide a poor guide to the analysis of reality.

Capacity utilisation in the long run: some further considerations

Abstract: The variability of long-run capacity utilisation has to be considered as an expression of the determining role played by aggregate demand in the process of growth. This paper discusses the model proposed by Serrano in which such a determining role is apparently reconciled with the condition of normal utilisation of existing capacity in the long run. It is shown that Serrano's conclusion lie on the hypothesis of the constancy of the growth rate of autonomous demand, an assumption which seems to originate from an erroneous interpretation of the property of 'relative persistence' of 'normal' magnitudes. The paper argues that if that assumption is abandoned, the autonomy of aggregate demand necessarily shows itself through the variability of capacity utilisation in the long run as well as in the short run.

Cycles and Growth: A Source of Demand-Driven Endogenous Growth

Abstract: This paper moves in a theoretical context in which the level of economic activity is dependent on aggregate demand in both the long and the short period. It shows that given two simple hypotheses, the economy will exhibit a tendency to grow independently of any increase in the average level of ongoing investment (or any other type of ‘autonomous’ demand) over time. The two hypotheses are (a) that investment oscillates over time and (b) that the community's marginal propensity to consume is lower when income contracts in slumps than when it increases in booms. This points to a source of growth that is as endogenous to the system, as trade cycles are.

The Irreversibility of Consumption as a Source of Endogenous Demand-driven Economic Growth

Abstract: In advanced capitalist economies, the asymmetry of aggregate consumption, which decreases to a lesser extent during recessions than it increases during expansions, implies an endogenous source of growth and accumulation. This thesis, put forward in a previous paper co-authored with Pierangelo Garegnani, is here scrutinized in detail and developed in terms of more general assumptions. The connection with similar assumptions on consumption to be found in the literature is also examined and some implications of the hypothesis are drawn regarding the significance of the savings rate.

Value and Capital

Abstract: LEAVING aside the courageous efforts of people around Monthly Review and Science and Society there has, by and large, been hardly any Marxist tradition among American intellectuals. However, during the last few years the situation has considerably changed and there is now a growing interest in Marxism, particularly among the younger social scientists of America. The book under review falls within this trend.

The Accumulation of Capital

Abstract: We've all had the experience at some time or other of walking through a department store and being amazed at the many different articles we see there. One counter after another filled with this, that, and the other thing-some useful, some of little or no use. Almost every day a new gadget is advertised, electric blankets, or hats that look like chimneys, or a special kind of vitamin tablets. A common reaction of people as they look in shop windows is, "What will they think of next?"This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Consumption and Saving: Models of Intertemporal Allocation and Their Implications for Public Policy

Abstract: This paper provides a critical survey of the large literature on the life cycle model of consumption, both from an empirical and a theoretical point of view. It discusses several approaches that have been taken in the literature to bring the model to the data, their empirical successes and failures. Finally, the paper reviews a number of changes to the standard life cycle model that could help solve the remaining empirical puzzles.

Rule of Law, Democracy, Openness, and Income: Estimating the Interrelationships

Abstract: We estimate the interrelationships among economic institutions, political institutions, openness, and income levels, using identification through heteroskedasticity (IH). We split our cross-national dataset into two sub-samples: (i) colonies versus non-colonies; and (ii) continents aligned on an East-West versus those aligned on a North-South axis. We exploit the difference in the structural variances in these two sub-samples to gain identification. We find that democracy and the rule of law are both good for economic performance, but the latter has a much stronger impact on incomes. Openness (trade/GDP) has a negative impact on income levels and democracy, but a positive effect on rule of law. Higher income produces greater openness and better institutions, but these effects are not very strong. Rule of law and democracy tend to be mutually reinforcing.