15 
the increase in household savings rates in some countries. 
There was the break down of international economic co operation. 
There was the change in political climate due to the reaction 
against the welfare state which turned the course of economic 
policy round by 180 degrees. 
The relative inflexibility of the profit margin at given 
utilization shows itself in the low degree of utilization over 
the past eight years. 
We must, however, now take into account that the conditions 
of our time differ vastly from the closed economy with negligible 
role of government which had been assumed in my original 
discussion of the effects of oligopoly on growth. There I 
concluded that the increase in mark-up by the oligopolised 
industry would in fact not increase the volume of their profits 
which would be kept constant by a reduction of utilization. 
There would only be a redistribution of profits within the 
business from the competitive to the oligopolistic sector. 
This is far from true nowadays because the depressive effect 
of the oligopolist's action will increase the budget deficit 
and increase the foreign balance. Its effect on the household 
saving is more doubtful since even in the long run it may not 
be very flexible. In consequence the oligopolists will obtain 
an increased volume of profit not only at the expense of 
competitive business but at the expense of the budget and the