Ian Steedman

Independent activity 1941–

Neo-Ricardian economist who argued in Marx after Sraffa that the labour theory of value is a redundant detour

Born in London in 1941, Steedman taught for many years as professor of economics at the University of Manchester before moving to Manchester Metropolitan University, from which he retired at the end of 2006. He is counted among the leading neo-Ricardian theorists, working where the economics of Marx, Sraffa, Marshall, Jevons and Wicksteed overlap. His 1975 paper "Positive Profits with Negative Surplus Value" used joint production to construct a case of positive profit with negative surplus value, and Marx after Sraffa (1977) concluded that, since prices and profits follow from physical data alone, the calculation of labour values is a redundant detour. In 1981 he edited The Value Controversy with Paul Sweezy.