Joint Production - An Introductory Note

The Introductory Note provides a definition of Joint Products, i.e. those goods that cannot be produced separately from each other -such as wool and mutton, iron and coke, and so on. It discusses the secondary role they played in economic theory, and the need to reconsider their role in the analysis of processes of production with fixed capital. Reference is made to Sraffa, who stated: “The interest of Joint Products does not lie so much in the familiar examples of wool and mutton, or wheat and straw, as in its being the genus of which Fixed Capital is the leading species. And it is mainly as an introduction to the subject of fixed capital that the ... chapters devoted to the intricacies of joint products find their place." The essays collected in “Essays on the Theory of Joint Production”, started from a series of discussions, over several years, that the author encouraged at the Economics Institute of the Università Cattolica of Milan and at the University of Cambridge. They aim to make a contribution toward an in-depth analysis of a general scheme, with a specificity, provided, of course, that the specificity concerns cases which although particular, are relevant. This seems to be precisely the case of fixed capital and non-reproducible means of production.