9058009883

CHAPTF.R TTT

36

86230

Th1s ohanga o f perapeot. 1 va, however, bas fnrt.her relevant 1 sp 1 1 ca1.1 ona for our ¹ trans 11.1 on ¹ prohlea, bot.h wlt.hln a oase of * 1nfra-systern * oompet. 11.1 veness and wlt.hln a    oase of

' 1 n t.er-sys tern ¹ oompet. 11.1 veness . Snob i ap 1 i ca1.1 ons    w1 1 1    ba

developed In the next. seot.lon.

v    •    *

6 • Po6 1t. 1 ve «nd ngggt j yg s»a gaagjt.

The basie r a 1.1 o n a 1 e of standard econoa j c .thftory 1 s that. t. h a gama of coapftt.1t.1on la one whioh aaxlB-l7.es t.he prlzes whioh are ava11ab1a for t.be whole of the pa r 1.1 o 1 pa 1.1 ng gamb lara. Tn ot.ber Morris, t.he gamę a 1 1 ows t.be gamhl.ers to prodnce (as a part of t.be aot.1v1t.1es of whioh t.be gama 1 t.self oonslst.s); 1f t.be gamblers adopt. a coapet.1t.1ve st.rat.egy, t.be resnlt.lng t.ot.al produntlon will be largar t.han t.he produot.lon that. won ld result. as a oonsequenoe of t.be .. adopt.lon of alt.ernat.1ve sf.rat.egles (as, for e x a m p 1 e , oooperat. 1ve strategiem) .

Present. as well as past. hlst.ory t.ends to demonst.rat.e t.be opposlt.e. Fuli employment. 1s In fant. rat.ber t.he exoept.1on t.han tbe nile; furt.her mor e, high levels of eaiployaient. bave been att.alned only nnder regulatory fraaeaorks wbloh oont.rolled and 1nt.egrat.ed purely market foroes. Morę 1n generał, t.he foroes of oooperat. łon and sodal solldarlt.y have nont.r1but.ed to t.be striiot.iir 1 ng and t.he deve1opment. of our enonoales and of our sonie 1.1 e s -as t.bey present. ly are- oert.alnly not. less t.han t.he purely ant.agon 1 st. 1 o foroes wbloh doailnate market. 1 n ter a ot 1 ons .

Thla la not. to deny that. t.he market 1a a rat.her po we rf ul allooat.1ve and regulatory meobanlsm; just. t.o aoknowledge that. 1 s one among ot.hers, and t.bat. 1t. is uaually not sufflolent. to ensure an aooept.able performance of our eoonomies. Furt.bermore, not. always do real markęt.s reprodure sonę of t.be essentlal feat.ures of t.be hlghly    st.yllzed abst.raot. markets

t.hat. t.he eoonomlst.s use and opon    whioh they der1ve t.helr

st.at.ement.s ahout. systemie opt. Imali ty.    The oonsldera tlona

about. t.he wagę st.ruot.urex and t.helr posslble ohanges single out one of snob posslble inoonslst.enoles, whioh happens t.o he ext.remely re1evant. for our analyala.

The reasons why we prefer t.o lise t.hese faotual argunents is t.hat. t.hey should be nonv1no1ng enough here, whlle we eon Id not. pret.end t.o aurvey or not even t.o summarlze t.he whole of purely thftoret.1 cal argument.s whioh have been ralsed agalnst. t.he theorlfts whioh hołd t.he opt. 1mal1t.y and self-suff1o1enoy of market allooat.lon. We shall limit. ourselves t.o very few and very speclf 1c argument.s, oonnect.ed -as ant.1o1pat.ed- to t.he •transit.łon* argument. explored above 1n sectlon 5.

Suppose t.hat. eaoh *f1rm', or sub-sy st. en, S(j) (so that. S(1) Is ^ł f 1 r w ¹ 1, S (2) 1s 'firm' 2, et. o., as j - 1,2,...) has a share Q(j) of t.he t.otal market, (of the whole system) Q whioh depends on t.he ratln bet.ween t.he pr 1 oe of 1 t.s out.put. p(j) and the average leve1 of prloes, p*: t.he lower Is su oh a relat.1ve