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The article presents an in-depth analysis of the archives of the Brown family, collected at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. In it the business activities of the family from the 18th to 20th centuries are charted. Comments are given highlighting the historical value of the papers, citing their remarkable comprehensiveness for such a long period. Issues addressed within the collection include records of business conditions and transactions during the Revolutionary War, the transitions in international business networks after the war, and the family's Western frontier land speculation ventures during the 19th-century.

Comments on articles about the economic history of the United States. Economic development of the country; Application of eminent domain on expropriate private property for public purposes; Stability of property rights in the country's legal order.

The article discusses researches conducted by economists Paul A. David, Warren J. Scoville and Earl J. Hamilton. Researcher Stanley Engerman in his discussion on David's article suggests that his article represents the most thorough study in the debate concerning American economic growth between 1800 and 1840. It is based both on new time series not previously utilized and upon the resourceful application of available data to clarify certain key points. Another researcher Ross M. Robertson while discussing Scoville's article finds his article on the whole persuasive. Robertson certainly has no quarrel with his quantitative inferences, nor for that matter with his description of French governmental regulation in the eighteenth century. He was not altogether convinced of the direct correlation between the paper industry's expansion and the relaxation of direct governmental controls that Scoville alleges. Perhaps Scoville's more extended publications on this subject will elucidate this relationship.

The article analyzes the factors that helped Canada escape from the effect of prolonged silver agitation in the U.S. despite a strong commercial dependence of the nation on the U.S. The silver agitation was aimed at abolishing the silver certificate currency notes to save money on paper. Financial causes like solidarity of the banking system is held responsible for the reproduction of the same commercial and financial conditions in the two countries. Emergence of local branches of the banks in Canada has not only ensured security to the community, but also resulted risk management at local level.

Comments on several articles about the economic development of the United States. Factors that changed income distribution in the country; Arguments on the growth of demand from capital-intensive subsectors.

The common theme running through the three papers prepared for this session is the nature and effectiveness of the international balance-of-payments adjustment process. Klein projects the effect of exchange-rate changes on national balance-of-payments positions. Kenen assumes fixed exchange rates and simulates the effects on the U.S. balance of payments of changes in U.S. monetary and fiscal policy. Adler and Stevens analyze the relationship between foreign direct investment by U.S. firms and U.S. exports, and then use their model to simulate the effect of several kinds of policy measures (exchange-rate, tariff and tax-rate changes) on that key aspect of the adjustment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents discussions by economists on some papers that are published in the May 1, 1970 issue of the journal "American Economic Review." The author states that the university is a part of the existing socioeconomic system with specific functions, among which that are mentioned by authors of papers published in the present issue of the journal, to socialize students as wage-workers is only one. Another is to inculcate into the student, a potential future leader, member of the intellectual elite, teacher of future students, precisely the point of view that underlies economics curriculum. Authors of those papers follow with iron logic that the university is not going to accept, let alone promote, an alternative curriculum, which begins by rejecting, or calling into question all basic institutions, relations and results of the existing system. It is true that under stress, such as that which developed on many campuses last year, powers-that-be will make concessions and often will promise more concessions. It is significant that economics department refused to recognize it and academic authorities denied permission for it to abandon the grading system, which authors criticized so effectively in their papers.

Introduces articles published in the 'Brookings Papers on Economic Activity' journal. Acceleration of inflation in 1969; Prospective price-wage performance from 1970 to 1975; Performance of home-building in 1969.

The article presents discussions by economists on some papers that are published in the May 1, 1970 issue of the journal "American Economic Review." The author states that one of the greatest obstacles to the efficient pricing of communication services seems to be a wide gap between costs of service of established common carriers and costs of facilities embodying the most modern technologies, which are microwave radio, satellite and the newest coaxial cable. Economist Harvey J. Levin's paper, published in the present issue of the journal, reminds its readers that this generalization applies clearly only to the comparison of private costs, until opportunity cost of the spectrum, that the first two of these new media use, is taken into account. Without them one cannot be sure how great is their margin of superiority in terms of social costs. But even with this correction, the rate of technological progress in long-distance communication has been so rapid that it has apparently outrun the rate of depreciation permitted by regulatory commissions on existing facilities.

The article presents discussions by economists on some papers that are published in the May 1, 1970 issue of the journal "American Economic Review." The author states that a monetary indicator is a variable the value of which tells whether monetary policy is becoming more or less restrictive, given influences of current and past fiscal policy, past monetary policy and stochastic elements affecting investment, saving and portfolio balance. Presumably, advocates of the interest rate as an indicator interpret a fall in the rate as a symptom of a less restrictive monetary policy, while advocates of the money supply interpret a larger money supply or larger rate of change of the money supply as indicative of a more expansive monetary policy. However, it appears that the problem of choosing an indicator has no content over and above the problem of choosing the optimal monetary instrument. Economist Richard Zecher's paper, published in the present issue of the journal, illustrates the fact that the information needed to assess the appropriateness of alternative monetary indicators is exactly the information required to choose between alternative monetary instruments. A glance at the major points of controversy in the discussion of monetary indicators makes it clear that there is really no separate indicator problem.

This article focuses on the book "Studies in the Structure of the American Economy--Theoretical and Empirical Explorations in Input-Output Analysis," by Wassily Leontief and others. The volume is a product of the first three years of the Harvard Economic Research Project set up with the help of a Rockefeller Foundation grant. It consists of 5 parts. The first four of the volume's twelve chapters are by Leontief. The first three--"Introduction," "Structural Change," and "Dynamic Analysis" comprise Part I, entitled "Static and Dynamic Theory." The fourth--"Interregional Theory," together with Walter Isard's paper "Some Empirical Results and Problems of Regional Input-Output Analysis" constitute Part II. Part III consists of two papers--"The Structure of Capital" by Robert N. Grosse and "The Telephone Industry: A Study in Private Investment" by Paul G. Clark. Part IV, entitled "Explorations in the Use of ethnological Data," contains "Process and Production Functions from Engineering Data" by Louis B. Chenery, "Problems of Classification and Aggregation" by Mathilda Holzman, "The Technological Structure of the Cotton Textile Industry" by Anne P. Grosse, and "Commercial Air Transportation in the United States" by Allen R. Ferguson. Part V entitled "Consumption and Final Demand" consists of "The Role of Demand in the Economic Structure" by James S. Duesenberry and Helen Kistin.

The article presents critical discussion by various economists on the papers by Arnold C. Harberger and G. Warren Nutter about monopoly and the U.S. economy. According to the author the paper by Harberger id addressed to competition in factor markets in the long run. Harberger considers the factor, capital, and defines the long run for statistical purpose. The calculations on which the figures presented in the paper are based and the argument supporting them are stimulating and ingenious. The most serious quarrel with the paper involves what is not in it rather than what is. Nutter, on the other hand, goes on to describe other areas where competition, though irregular and delayed, nevertheless does operate in a direct fashion, and a still larger area where the constant pressure of potential competition works toward competitive ends albeit with delays and discontinuities. To the author the degree of competitiveness has been referred to the length of the adjustment period necessary for demand to become elastic in the neighborhood of where marginal costs and price approach one another.

Radical changes, up and down, have taken place in the estimates of growth in total factor productivity in the U.S. made by different economists, or by the same economists at different times. If such estimates provide ‘some sort of measure of our ignorance,’ as Abramovitz once put it, we seemed to be a lot less ignorant in 1927 (when Cobb and Douglas published their famous paper), or in 1967 (when Jorgenson and Griliches published theirs), than we were in the years between (when Schmookler, Abramovitz, Kendrick, and Denison completed their studies), or than we are today (when we have, or will soon have, revised estimates by Denison and by Kendrick, and new estimates by Christensen and Jorgenson). Viewed in this perspective, many questions may be raised about the significance of the current estimates that something like a third or more of the rate of increase in U.S. national output is ‘due’ to increase in productivity, as well as about the concepts, data, and methods that underlie the estimates. A list of particular subjects worth considering for research is given and each is briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a forecasting model for estimating the effects of cost increases in polluting industries on the economy of the U.S. The economic effects of pollution cost control is quite small except for the changes in the net foreign balance. The net foreign balance would continue to decline substantially unless pollution were taxed at the border. The relative differences between the direct, intermediate, and final changes are substantial among the various industries. On the other hand, the secondary price effects for paper and electric power are almost negligible. The most unusual case occurs in the cement industry, where the final price is smaller than the intermediate increase. This occurs because of the high price elasticity for new housing; higher prices in general lead to less housing, which reduces the demand for cement, hence, lowering its price. The relative changes in prices and output for each of the fifteen industry were also compared. As expected, food, paper, petroleum and electric power have relatively low price elasticities, while the results are substantially higher for cement, steel, nonferrous metals and automobiles. It should be mentioned that these implicit price elasticities reflect the demand curves for the final demand products as well as the intermediate goods themselves.

The article presents discussions by economists on various papers published in the May 1, 1970 issue of the journal "American Economic Review." It discusses effects of tax policy measures when consumers behave rationally and markets function, as they should, in a model embodying conditions of a full and general equilibrium. It states that in the analysis of tax policy, the most important effects to consider are long-term effects. They are what the economy has to live with indefinitely. "Announcement effects" are instantaneous and for that reason evanescent, the transition between announcement and the longer-term equilibrium is by definition transitory. The long run is precisely what economist Lauritis R. Christensen focused on in his paper. Christensen noted that saving is likely to be insensitive to the rate of return and produced two cases, one in which the counterpart of the reduction in revenue caused by the tax incentives was added borrowing from the household sector and the other in which the counterpart was reduced government investment, which resulted in opposite directions of movement of private investment.

The article presents a discussion on microanalytic model of the household sector in the U.S. By now the Social Systems Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is well known, and the microanalytic model that is being developed there. This paper presents information about the project's progress. It Is only fair to say that the first big report on the project, Microanalysis of Socioeconomic Systems, contained almost all of what Professor Guy H. Orcutt has had to say. Therefore, in this paper, the author focuses his attention on the section in which he makes an appeal for substantial financial support. Orcutt presents a persuasive case for the usefulness of a fully implemented model of the sort he has described. It would be hard to disagree with his contention that having such a model would be worth a great deal. However, the author feels that there is room for a reasonable doubt about the prospect of achieving a full-scale operating model in anything like the near-term future, even under the favorable budgetary conditions.

On March 24, 1959, the U.S., Senate and House directed the Joint Economic Committee to conduct a large-scale investigation into the problems of maximum employment, an adequate rate of economic growth and the maintenance of price stability. On January 10, 1960, less than a year later, the Committee and the staff assembled for the purpose concluded its task, having published a Committee Report. It will be some time before the profession has managed to digest the enormous volume of material. This article is particularly concerned with the two central documents, the Committee and Staff Reports. There is a vast amount of useful analysis in the Staff Report and , the hearings and the study papers. The center topics are difficult and complicated in the extreme. There are marks of haste and insufficient integration throughout the Staff Report, insufficient time is the obvious source of many of its shortcomings. Bluntly put, it was ridiculous to expect that a staff could be assembled, hearings held, study projects assigned, and the whole enormous resultant mass digested, in less than a year. Viewed against the background of this limiting factor, the Staff Report emerges as a remarkably good performance.

The article presents a critical discussion of the papers by Seymour E. Harris and John V. Van Sickle on interregional competition and economic adjustments. According to the author Harris has developed his topic in a most interesting and stimulating fashion. He is to be complimented for this able presentation of the difficulties facing the Northeast in its attempt to maintain its competitive position in the U.S. Harris appears at the outset to favor the regional adjustment process of classical economics. After a brief description of this process, he contends that the expected adjustments do not take place or do so only after costly delays. Some policies of government such as banking policy and government relief and spending policies hamper adjustments, other policies that are classified as favoritism toward developing regions add to the burden of adjustment in the older regions. Harris' paper represents an important addition to interregional economic analysis, with particular reference to an area in which much investigation already has been undertaken.

The article presents a critical discussion of the two papers by Edgar M. Hoover and Joseph Shister on the factors related to investment for the individual firms. According to the author Hoover has demonstrated considerable dexterity in weaving into his model several of the more important institutional characteristics. But Hoover seems to stop short of asking the significant questions relevant to economic growth. The really important one would seem to be, do the institutional changes outlined make for more or less capital accumulation? The author remarks that if one fully accept the analysis as realistic of firm behavior, what changes are portended in the rate of economic growth? Turning now to Professor Shister, the impression which is immediately gained from his paper is the breadth of its scope and the transparency of its composition. Shister chose to deal with his subject on an over-all level, relating union practices and policies to the growth pattern of the American economy as a whole. This approach has both its merits and its shortcomings.

The article presents information on the report of the Exploratory Committee of the American Economic Association on honors and awards. According to the report, the following types of award might be considered by the American Economic Association. First, for long, faithful, and useful service to the Association. Second, for the best paper contributed to the Proceedings at a given annual meeting-perhaps with some description of the yardstick to be used in defining "best." Third, for distinguished contributions to the development of the science of economics. fourth, for noteworthy contributions to the advancement of the science of economics in a specified period and fifth, for unique and original contributions to the development of the methodology of economics-with a specific period specified or not specified. The Committee does not believe that it is practicable to make an award for the best paper contributed to the Proceedings at a given annual meeting as the need for speed of action, the short time prospective, and the subjective character of value judgments make such an award difficult in the extreme to administer satisfactorily.

The article presents a discussion on forecasts for the postwar economy in the U.S. The two papers by economist Lewis H. Brown and Clifford J. Durr show difference in scope but no wide divergence in recommendation or in forecasts for the postwar economy of the U.S. There is, however, latent in their approach to the problem a much greater contrast. Brown would have a complete withdrawal of the government from all direct participation in the production of goods and services for sale in the competitive market. Durr concedes that government operation of a large part of the economy is out of the question by reason of the magnitude of the job and the size of the governmental organization, thus conceding Brown's main point. But Durr would guard against restrictions on business opportunity and on competition by regulation and government competition and he would have direct government initiative in the provision of goods and services that are socially desirable, but which for one reason or another will not be undertaken by private business. One other recommendation or suggestion that of extended price fixing if other methods of monopoly control fails, show the difference in approach of the two papers.

Discusses key issues concerning the Agricultural Credits Act of 1923 in the U.S. Key stipulations of the law; Impact on agricultural industries; Implications on economics.

The article considers some aspects of the financial history of the United States. It focuses on some of the monetary operations of the Treasury during the years of depression that followed the crisis of 1893. The article highlights the salient events of the period, including the struggle with a declining revenue, the continued drain on the gold holdings, the repeated danger of the Treasury's collapse, and the successive loans needed to save it from virtual bankruptcy. The difficulties under which the Treasury inevitably labors under the present anomalous system or lack of system are examined.

Three fundamental observations have been made with respect to the historic behavior of the term structure of interest rates in the United States. (1) In general, yield curves ascend in periods when the level of long-term and short-term interest rates is low and descend in periods when the level of rates for both maturities is high. Yield curves which are invariant with term are more typical of periods when the level of rates is near the mid-point of the normal range. (2) Short- and long-term interest rates tend to move together cyclically, with the more volatile short-rates rising relative to long-rates during periods of economic expansion and falling relative to long-rates during periods of contraction. (3) The year 1930 is considered a benchmark in the long history of interest rates since the Civil War in that short-rates are thought to have been generally higher than long-rates prior to that date and were consistently below them for approximately thirty years thereafter. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether investors' responses to maturity-related interest-rate differentials in the late nineteenth century were, in fact, essentially different from those of later decades. To do so requires the generation of yield curve estimates for the period 1884-1900. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a critical evaluation of available consumer credit statistics. It is reported that there are three principal types of consumer credit statistics available on a regular or periodic basis as of May 1952. The first consumer credit statistics examined in the article are volume statistics, which are the regular monthly estimates of consumer credit outstanding published by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. Volume statistics are also comprised of the individual trade reports on installment sales and collections, also published by the Federal Reserve Board, and many monthly and annual reports on credit granted and unpaid balances made available by trade associations and state and federal governments.

The article comments on papers presented by Robert C. Turner, Paul W. McCracken, and Everett C. Hagen to a joint meeting to the American Finance Association and the American Economic Association on December 28, 1949 in New York City. The author agrees with all three presenters that direct controls should be used only as a last resort and under unusual circumstances, such as during wartime. He questions conventional wisdom concerning the effectiveness of monetary policy in influencing expenditures.

The author presents his views on a number of conference papers pertaining to the subject of differential pricing. According to the author, the term "differential pricing" is an ambiguous and misleading term. He provides commentary on a paper by Corwin Edward that discusses antitrust legislation and prices of public utilities.

The authors have presented a very interesting and a very well done paper. Indeed it is so well done technically, that I have a difficult task as a discussant. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the computer that ground out the several simulations discussed in the paper, nor is it likely that the authors misunderstood the model employed since Professor Adams was one of the principal developers of the model while he was at the OECD. Rather my attempt to get a handle on the paper will start at a more basic level and I pose the question, why bother? Since history cannot be re-run, what is the purpose of simulating the past under more ideal conditions of macro economic balance? The authors state that they have a two-fold purpose in mind: to determine what were the causes of the deterioration of the U.S. trade balance between 1964 and 1969, and to determine what are the future prospects for the U.S. trade balance. The authors add that these determinations have 'obvious policy implications.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the results of a study in Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, that appraises the contribution of the Survey Research Center's Index of Consumer Sentiment to forecasts of automobile demand, by Saul Hymans. Hymans searches for economic variables that may be substituted in regression equations for the index of consumer sentiment. He finds that a combination of three variables--earlier changes in real disposable income, in common stock prices and in consumer prices--taken together with the lagged index, explain nearly 80 percent of the variation in the index over the period 1956 to 1968. Personal experiences and information received on economic matters influence changes in willingness to but. If it is true that changes in consumer sentiment often originate in different considerations in consecutive periods, then a satisfactory fit resulting from the use of specific variables in a past period cannot be expected to insure success with the same variables in the future. Hymans speaks of the stock market as a possible source of changes in consumer sentiment. However, studies on the reasons why the index has changed, carried out primarily in 1962 and in 1969-1970, do not support Hymans' opinion. Even at times of major stock movements, relatively few people--and even relatively few stockholders--explained their opinion about economic trends by stock market movements and the majority said that events in the market were unrelated to the course of the economy.

The article presents discussions by economists on some papers that are published in the May 1, 1970 issue of the journal "American Economic Review." The author states that economist Joseph L. Bower's fascinating discussion of problems of control in the diversified corporation is illuminating for national planning as well as for understanding of the potent but troublesome conglomerates. Bower states, "The job of top management is to keep self-interest and corporate interest aligned." The author points out that he cannot find an equally terse statement of the essential point in his consideration of the same problem at the national level, but his perceptive contrast between the conglomerate's operating efficiency and its lack of responsiveness to social goals makes issues clear. According to the author, the essential job of national economic policy is to align the corporation's self-interests with goals of the society. It is not enough to spell out targets and discuss them with corporate executives, policy has no meaning unless those taking daily decisions gain from pursuing goals set by the society and lose when they go in the wrong directions.

This article discusses papers of economic historians of the new generation. More particularly, the article considers whether or not one observes in the work of the new generation a departure from the writings of the past which is sufficient to justify a title like new economic history. There is in this respect, and in others, a clear line of continuity between the old and the new economic history. However, in pursuing their quantitative interests, the old economic historians limited themselves primarily to the presentation, in more or less original form, of data found in standard historical sources. The new economic historians are also concerned with the problem of recombining primary data in ways that enable them to obtain measurements that were never before made. In the course of their attempted constructions and reconstructions, the new economic historians often come to points at which information on a process or institution essential to the completion of a given statistical structure is largely or completely missing.

The article presents a discussion related to the U.S. Commission on Money and Credit which submitted it's report in 1962. The author of this article comments on the writings of Milton Friedman and Ralph A. Young on the related issue. The author was looking forward with some anticipation to Young on the subject of Federal Reserve reorganization, and it was a cruel disappointment to have him banish this topic to the area of political science. Perhaps he is right that the topic is not appropriately discussed at this meeting. But it is doubtful if it is going to be discussed at any other professional gathering. Now if political changes are to have economic effects, then they belong within the considerations of economists and they would properly resent it very much if the conclusions were left to clumsy-handed political scientists. On structural changes, Young could have risen to the bait, but he did not. The report finds that the monetary policy has a useful and important part to play, and Young agrees. It would have been a matter of some surprise had he disagreed.

A regional development program will suggest different things to different individuals, and to all it is likely to suggest not a single program but a number of related programs focusing on a common objective. To a staff member of a development agency, a regional development program implies literally scores of individual programs ranging from those involving engineering projects to those basically educational in nature carried out co-operatively with educational and other regional institutions. Since these programs are neither comparable nor amenable to uniform methods of analysis, a complete discussion of criteria for their evaluation cannot be attempted in a paper such as this. Regional development purposes will be defined as a process resulting in a secular growth of regional output or real income. This, of course, is less than a comprehensive definition of regional development as many intangible aspects of development are not susceptible of measurement by a monetary yardstick. This growth can occur autonomously. It may be influenced also by the impact of national economic expansion imparted through the private sector of the economy. A regional development program, therefore, must be distinguished as an influence exogenous to the normal functioning of the private economy. For the purpose of this discussion, a regional development program will be defined as a public undertaking, most likely a governmental undertaking, one of whose primary objectives is to influence the underlying factors affecting regional output.

This paper deals with but one strand in the subtle and challenging processes of economic growth. The productivity factor cannot be separated from other strands, nor may consequences of productivity changes be isolated for study. It is true, however, that this strand is a central one, for growth is perhaps best defined as an increase in the effectiveness with which available resources are utilized. The author's purpose in this paper are these, briefly to set forth certain of characteristics of productivity changes in the United States over the last half century, to note some consequences of these changes, to comment on the part played by these changes in the general growth of the economy over this period. My discussion will necessarily be broad, with brief reference to global movements. In summary the author presents the following points, the expansion of production in the United States, under the joint stimulus of advancing productivity and of swelling input of labor, has provided us, decade by decade, with a substantial disposable margin above requirements of pre existing consumption levels. Economic progress over the last half century as manifest in dimensions of this margin came in three great forward movements in the first, third and fifth decades, with retardation in the second and fourth decades.

The article focuses on the author's views on the proportion of net capital formation which includes net additions to construction, producers' durable equipment, inventories and claims against foreign countries to national income or net national product, for totals in current prices, about 13 percent for 1869-1928. If one includes the following decades of depression, war and the few postwar years through 1948, the average drops to about 12 percent. For totals in 1929 prices, percentages are 14 for 1869-1928 and 12 for 1869-1948. In groping for an answer to the question for the economy in peacetime, my first attempt was to link it with the technologically determined ratio of capital to output and with the rate of growth in the latter. Conclusions of the discussion in the paper should be viewed as fortified suggestions rather than fully tested inferences, largely because questions raised and particularly answers advanced ramify into wide realms of the economic and social system of the country. In its growth since the 1870's. In a sense, therefore, this paper is an interim report and its conclusions are necessarily subject to amplification and partial revision.

Efforts of this paper will be directed to an exposition and discussion of the foundational aspects of all requirements which are either directly or indirectly "military." These aspects fall, in their initial phases, almost entirely within the province of the U.S. Department of Defense and the defense ministries of allied countries. Furthermore, these aspects are matters depending materially on judgments which are in great part military and which require some component of professional appraisal by officials, uniformed and civilian, knowledgeable in military matters. The area of dependence on judgment alone is being continually reduced. Methods of scientific analysis of military problems are being improved. Electronic machines are being applied to the appraisal of military needs. Such improvements give greater precision and increased speed and accuracy to estimates of hundreds of thousands of items which, to procurement and production experts, constitute military requirements. But, if only because the potential aggressor is definitely non cooperative toward any reduction of requirements problem to exact scientific definitions, the element of military judgment will always bulk large in requirements equation.

The progress of European recovery has been anything but steady since the winter of 1946-1947. It moved forward rapidly in 1948 and the very beginning of 1949, but the U.S. recession in the summer of 1949 set Europe back sharply. Indexes of production were stagnant or declining in most of Europe during that summer. It looked as if what was originally conceived as a largely physical task of expanding agricultural and industrial production had already, at a much earlier stage than anticipated, encountered the problem of inadequate markets for the output that could be produced. The setback was climaxed by the devaluation of sterling in September and devaluations of practically all other European currencies that followed immediately in its wake. This paper is concerned with the economic state of Europe now and in the near future, it contains certain views which may have a wider application in time and in space. It is written in the belief that there are lessons to be learned from current European experience which have quite general significance for economic policy, public and private, here as well as in Europe. As the title of this paper suggests, it is intended as an essay in political economy rather than in pure economics or economic theory.

In his paper, "The Outlook for Effective Competition," Mr. George P. Comer renders a noble service in developing the thesis that effective competition can be secured in the American economy if supported, along with other measures, by a vigorous and unremitting enforcement of the antitrust laws. Mr. Comer's presentation of the patterns of monopoly which now exist in American industry and the world economy furnishes much valuable information on recent trends. Price fixing, the concerted use of pricing for formulas, price leadership with its twin evils of discriminatory price cutting and price rigidity during a business recession, monopolistic combinations and trade organizations, the use of patents for price control, and international cartels bearing on the domestic economy. Surely there is little basis for the point of view expressed in recent publications of the National Industrial Conference Board Inc. and the National Association of Commodity Exchanges that the mere removal of wartime controls will mean a return of free, competitive markets.

The article presents comments on the research papers of Professor Harold M. Groves and Alfred G. Buehler on tax policy. The proper allocation of tax levies upon various corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships cannot be entirely justified on the basis of benefit, or on the basis of ability to pay, or on the basis of any single criterion. The importance of different criteria varies with different taxes and with different circumstances. Each pertinent factor should be given due weight in view of all other facts in each particular case. This requires much wisdom and the ability to adjust all political and other pertinent pressures; hence it is obvious why actual tax decisions and actions are seldom perfect. It is thus seldom or never possible to achieve complete tax equity. This is particularly true in the U.S. in view of conflicting court decisions affecting the taxation of corporate income; that is, relative to the corporate entity, on the one hand, and relative to looking through veils and forms and considering the real essence of things, on the other hand.

The article presents comments of different economists on the paper regarding the future of the U.S. investment and the role of the Bretton Woods Bank written by various authors. According to Alice Bourneuf, he agrees that the four conditions stated by Mr. Eric Fellner are of fundamental importance. Some degree of political security, maintenance of reasonably high levels of employment by domestic measures, commercial policies which increase the adjustability of the flow of goods, and wise use of the Fund's power to approve changes in exchange rates are all necessary for continued stability. According to Ragnar Nurske, Dr. A. Gardner deals at some length with the problem of repayment and with the readjustment it will involve in the United States economy. Remote though this problem may seem to them in time, a demonstration of how it can be met may help to remove prevailing inhibitions on foreign lending. According to Henry C. Simons, he had enjoyed Mr. Imre de Vegh's paper. The differences between them are perhaps unsubstantial and, in any case, concern weighting and relative emphasis, not the validity of the broad considerations he has invoked.

Economists have long discussed the role in general economic development of the rapid exploitation of innovations especially those requiring immense amounts of capital. Some enthusiasts in looking at the comparative prosperity of the decade of the 1920's have pointed to motor vehicles, the most obvious feature of that prosperity, as the main cause. Actually, investment directly occasioned by the development and growing use of motor vehicles, although very large in the aggregate, was not predominant in the total of new investment in the period of so-called "plateau of prosperity," 1923 to 1929, inclusive. Rather, the automotive development of the period was one of several which provided opportunities for large aggregates of new investment. The rapid developments held to be the driving force of capitalism are said to produce "maladjustments" or "distortions in the structure of production. The conclusions reached in the paper were that during the period 1929-37 the American economy was stagnant and probably slightly contracting relatively to the population.

The article presents a list of research papers on economic history of the U.S. Some of the papers are "History of jack stock and mules in Missouri," by J. Ashton, "The Influence of Slavery in the Colonization of Texas," E.C. Barker, "Leadership of Early Windsor Industries in Mechanic Arts," by G. Hubbard, "The Railroad and the Prairie," by C.A. Harper, "Recollections of Life in Early Wisconsin," by A.M. Kellog, "The Marketing of Farm Implement Machinery, 1830-1860," by W.W. Leigh, "North West and Hudson's Bay Companies," by A. Newell, "Economic Aspects of Southern Sectionalism," by R.R. Russel, "The Physical and Economic Geography of Oregon," by W.Du P. Smith, "A Contemporary English View of the Trade and Prospects of New Orleans at the Close of the French Dominion," "Notes on the Economic History of New Orleans, 1803-1836," by J.E. Winston. "The Colonial Period of North Dakota History," by O.G. Libby, describes the fur trade which went on in Dakota from earliest times till 1850, when the territory began to change to a settled community of ranchers and farmers.

The article presents report of the acting managing editor of the American Economic Review for the year ending December 1944. The last annual report on the Review called the attention of the members to the seriously reduced flow of acceptable manuscripts. In spite of the reduced gross product of their article writing economists, the net product in terms of articles published in the Review was not diminished. The acting managing editor wishes to remind the Executive Committee that it has made a contingent appropriation for publication of a supplement during 1945 on some timely subject of economic policy. According to him, last year the managing editor was authorized to introduce a change in the format of the Review if the paper shortage should require such an action. It was not necessary to make use of this authorization, and the Review shall be published in 1945 with the format unchanged.