Abstract

We present a contribution of Robert Heilbroner to classical stationary results that runs from Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Marx through neoclassical economics to the modern time. The analyses pivot on socioeconomic and historical forces. It is culled from several of his works scattered over half a century. They describe the path that capitalism took, based on underlying reality of economic relationships. Although Heilbroner does not express his thoughts mathematically, we cast some of his ideas in that terminology, because he does not avoid propositional statements, and the math we use is for heuristic purposes only.