Institut fuer ftfirtscnax tsforechung
Wien I.,Wipplinferstr 34
15th Dec 1953
Deer Hr. Weinberg,
I am very amused to fin© that I have been made into a
countervailing power to Professor Galbraith.* The juxtaposition
is an interesting iaea; for the ^oun fo steis it will be puzzling
how to relate the two booas to each other, but I suppose this task
must be left to the teacuer.
I think jour account is fair an© veip fc oou. I have faced
only a few remarks to indicate the passages which you Blight reconsider
before sending it to the printer. Obviously, any summary of my book,
let alone a fair one, is of acvantage from point of view.'
I stopped at 1939 because I think taere has been a great
change since then, B* fore, certain exp^enous factors - bucket aeficits
proiits ta;.es - were of secundary importance. 1 think they simply
cid not matter up to 1929, ana were only a modifiying force up to
1939. But since 194o they are of aacisive importance. Spending for
the war ana deferred spending as an aft rraath 01 the war ana its
restrictions gave something like full employment up to 19?8 inci.
Consumers aebt helped a little then, ana from 195o spending for
armaments were again important. Obviously stagnation is supersede©
by such events. Ana the focus of interest in an economy, in which
public spending matters so mueh,is shifted to a ratm r different
plane; call it sociological or political; The trend of the economy
becomes less a question of the autonomous working of the economic
mechanism, than 01 tne pla^ of forces an© considerations
which shape fiscal ana other policies. It may be eoubteo vhether
these forces are more rational than the former ones, but they are
a different thing and require another model.