Izumi Hishiyama and His Thoughts on the Circular Process and the Prices of Production:

The Journey of Economics from Quesnay to Sraffa

Abstract

Abstract: Izumi Hishiyama, born in Tokyo in 1923, studied and taught at Kyoto University during most of his career after coming back from World War II. His studies can be split into essentially two fields. The first is his examination of the theories of physiocrats represented by Quesnay and of classical economists such as Ricardo, and Sraffaʼs economics that aimed at the revival of the classical economics into the modern economic science. The second is his study of the Cambridge School, led by Marshall and Keynes, which is considered one of the main streams of modern economics. Hishiyama always tried to keep overall views, such as classical and modern, and orthodox and heterodox. He played an active role in leading Sraffian economics in Japan, introducing Sraffaʼs famous paper on the cost of production, “Sulle relazioni fra cos-to e quantità prodotta,” with his own original introduction, as well as the masterpiece, Pro-duction of Commodities by Means of Commodities. Hishiyama is well known abroad for his pioneering work on Quesnayʼs Tableau Fondamental, called “zig-zag,” which was written in 1960. Here, Hishiyama succeeded in distilling the formulae that depict the main message in “zig-zag” （Hishiyama 1960）. Another of Hishiyamaʼs well-known works is his study of the relationship between Keynesʼ first painstaking work, A Treatise on Probability, and Keynesʼ later work, The General Theory （Hishiyama 1969）. Here, Hishiyama argued that the system described in A Treatise on Probability should be regarded as an essential element of Keynesʼ thoughts, being coupled with the system in The General Theory. 　　Hishiyamaʼs work on economics is, in a sense, unique and original, even from a global perspective. At first glance, his writings appear very academic and professional. However, af-ter reading them, we learn that it is possible to study economics from a much deeper point of view than is typically the case. JEL classification numbers: B11, B12, B22, B31, B51.