Natural Interest Rate: Sraffa Vs. Hayek Debates

Abstract

This article deal with the discussion between F. Hayek and P. Sraffa in the 1930s. This piece of the history of economic thought is not presented in the Russian-speaking literature. The main method is a content analysis. The directions of criticism Hayek’s business cycle theory by Sraffa and the response towards is analyzed in the paper. The author compared the opponents’ approaches to the essence of the equilibrium, to the savings-investments equality, to the possibility to lose capital as a result of malinvestments, to the role of expectations, and to the natural rate of interest. A version was offered for explaining the ineffectiveness of Hayek's answer to the question on the multiplicity of natural interest rates and the reasons why the barter economy has been perceived as theoretical basis of the Hayekian analysis. It is the inaccurate wording of the natural interest rate and the representation the theory within the framework of the equilibrium paradigm. The findings of the research may be applied to analyze the impact of interest rate regulation on the economic.