Growth Theory, Structural Dynamics and the Analysis of Consumption

The chapter examines the numerous questions for consumption theory raised by Pasinetti\u2019s structural dynamics. They involve issues in the history of thought and in economic analysis, as well as questions of empirical verification and historical evidence. In this respect it is interesting to consider how the question of new products disappeared and then re-emerged in consumer theory and how that compares with the consumption theory contained in Pasinetti\u2019s structural dynamics. Comparing these foundations with the capabilities approach of A. Sen, as done by Walsh (2003), highlights the main questions that stand in the way of a dynamic theory of consumption, anticipated in Pasinetti\u2019s analysis of the demand side