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Economics 3 I 7
to imagine that it wil ever be possible to eliminate value judgements from the
choices and compromises that ultimately add up into a plan.
Econometric verification of growth theories is also needed. The purpose is not
to confirm their validity, as an econometric test, in that case, could, at best, serve
to reject a theory. Normally, econometric verification is employed to improve
our knowledge of the variability of parameters and suggest the modifications in
this respect that should be made to the m0del.~4
2. Many models, based on the same theory, can be elaborated. In particular,
various comprehensive models of the national economy can be elaborated on the
same theoretical premises. Reminiscent of mathematical theories of economic
equilibrium, these models consist of a system of equations, and seek to provide
an optimum general solution. Attempts to construct them, however, can hardly
be described as satisfactory because of the difficulty, already mentioned, of
establishing a uniform function, which can be maximized (or minimized), for all
the objectives of the economy. Here, once again, we comeup against the familiar
difficulties of aggregation and measurement, but in a slightly different form,
deriving from the multiplicity of the objectives inherent in economic activity.
Yet, linear programming and other algorithms whose purpose is to achieve partial
optimization may be succesfully used whenever it is possible to determine the
goal function. Moreover, the whole burden of the problems which growth theo-
ries are intended to deal with is transferred to the determination of constraints
recorded as equations. In this respect, comprehensive models do not add to our
knowledge. They may even lose their respectability if they fail to resist the
temptation to use the existing algorithms to solve the sets of equations on the
computer, without first taking sufficient care in the elaboration of the parameters.
3. Quite obviously, models which refer explicitly to a market economy wil
differ in several characteristics from models which refer to a socialist economy,
e.g. in the emphasis they place on effective demand, or State intervention. How-
ever, the methods used will not differ significantly from those indicated above.
A planned capitalist economy comes somewhere between a market economy and
a socialist economy, and demands appropriate modifications in the assumptions.
But models which do not indicate the type of economy for which they are in-
tended tend to be suspended in the void, exercises in logic and mathematics that
are inadequately related to reality. To prove this, it is not even necessary to
resort to empirical verification; it need only be recalled, on formally logical
grounds, that such models are incomplete because they neglect the socio-econom-
ic dimension that is an essential feature of political economy.
4. Many of the assumptions used in growth theory are based on results ob-
tained through the theory of development and the theory of the functioning of
the economy, and through them, on results of research in history, anthropol-
ogy, sociology, psychology, the theory of organization, and so on. This situa-
tion is typical of the human sciences: the parameters used for the purposes of
growth theory and taken as given for the purpose of argument are really the
subject of research by other theories, or even disciplines. This provides a useful
indication of the purpose of the interdisciplinary approach in the human scien-
ces, and the way in which it must be utilized. Round-table meetings of represen-