Sur la théorie de la structure économique

SUMMARY The method of functional relations which has been widely adopted in economics has led to conception of the economic system as constellation of economic quantities bound to each other by simple and multiple relations This representation however makes the system appear too abstract shadowy and inconsistent To eliminate this drawback serious hindrance to the building of makro-economics the author of this paper says that it would be both necessary and useful to give priority to those of the functional relations that connect the quantities of the system and esta blish quantitative relation between the production factors available within the system at any given time To do this one must assume that the economic system covers not only given period of time but also given size of space This proportional relation between quantities which are productive factors in the system in so far as it is taken to have position of priority tends as show to be constant in time and constrains the other relations between non-factor units By this means the economic system takes on more definite and concrete shape that is it acquires specific structure of its own which differentiates it from other economic systems that may exist alongside it The author postulates four degrees of interpretation to illustrate the structure of the system he formulates an elementary definition equa tion of the structure and furthermore examines the variations of the structure and the variations the structure Thus the economic struc ture of certain system can be connected with the fund of national economy and on this well-known simile depends the flux of income employment savings consumption and so onResta Manlio. Sur la théorie de la structure économique. In: Revue économique, volume 5, n°6, 1954. pp. 896-916