Brief von Josef Steindl an Jerzy Osiatyński

Steindl, Josef

Bibliographic data

Correspondence

Document type:: Correspondence

Collection:: Josef Steindl Collection

Title:: Brief von Josef Steindl an Jerzy Osiatyński

Author:: Steindl, Josef

Recipient:: Osiatyński, Jerzy

Scope:: Typoskript mit Unterschrift, 2 Blätter, 2 Seiten

Place of publication:: Wien

Year of publication:: 1975-10-09

Source material date:: 9th October 1975

Language:: English

Note:: Kopie mit handschriftlichen Anmerkungen in Zusammenhang mit der Edition von "Collected Works of Michal Kalecki".

Shelfmark:: S/B.47

Correspondence partner:: Osiatyński, Jerzy Steindl, Josef

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.48671/nls.js.1504169322506

A-11o3 Wien, Postfach 9"! 9th October 1975• Dear Osiatynski, Thank you f->r your letter. 1. The coefficient m h^s definitely the dimension of time, just as the lag 0 } this is because it accurs as the coefficient of a "velocity" sthe change of investment per unit of time, which must be multiplied by a time dimension in order to yi&ld A 1 A- ^a contribution to^the rate of investment. ~ ~Z^T~ The economic me a ning of the inequality^.is simply that the response to the change in investment ( or to profits must not be too strong in relation to the lag £) , or else there will be very large growth rates. The condition, I think, is not implausible, because a somewhat related condition is necessary in the business cycle theory to ensure that the cycle is damped. My reason for excluding oase II and case III is precisely that they would produce unrealistically large growth rates. In this context i& must be noted that Kalecki^s model of the trend treats mainly the problem of effective demand. The restrictions which in reali^ty are placed on growth by the condition s of supply are not discussed in any detail; they enter the mathematical formulation only via the lag 9 , which limits the speed of accumulation. You may remember a paper of fc. dealing with limitation of the speed of accumulation in Poland especially in the coal mines: he showed that owing to lack of skilled manpower the attempt to increase the investment mayx beyond a certain level may simply lead to an increase in the period required to execute investment projects, in other words, the lag 6 Thus ¥ ou may say that if the investment response m would increase too much, the lag ^for the reasons indicated, would increase even farther ^ - because of restrictions on the supply side, in the last resort^ because the speed at which people can learn is limited. 2. The 1968 paper is not materially different from the earlier trend theory but rather in the mathematical approach; all or most of the trend generating forces appear now in form of a function of time, i.e. o n the face of it they are treated as exogenous. The verbal explanations^, however, make it quite clearfthat Kalecki continued

Correspondence

Cite and reuse

Correspondence

Image

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation