A Note on the Theory of Rationing A. Henderson A. Henderson Manchester Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 15, Issue 1, 1947, Pages 42–45, https://doi.org/10.2307/2295928 Published: 01 April 1947
Some Implications of "Linearity." Get access P. A. Samuelson P. A. Samuelson Cambridge, Mass. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 15, Issue 2, 1947, Pages 88–90, https://doi.org/10.2307/2295997 Published: 01 September 1947
The Review of Economics and Statistics194729(1), 28
shall escape a serious wage-price spiral, leading to collapse, within the coming year and a half. In effect, we believe, this is to assume that throughout this period union wage demands are kept within very moderate limits. No doubt it is incorrect to say that the inflationary pressure on wage levels observable at full employment results exclusively from union behavior; we know from the experience of previous booms that competition will generate it in markets, and the evidence of the past fifteen months suggests that this will be true even under price ceilings. But powerful unions enhance the pressure immeasurably in at least two ways: ( i ) they tend to force increases much larger than those which would take place under competitive conditions in factor and product markets; and (2) they intensify the speed and magnitude of any reaction of wages to a rise in prices, when the latter are free to rise. With price controls rapidly going by the boards, they will now be able to move along both avenues. At the present writing (November, I946), among the agents making for rapid short-term inflation they seem to be the most important as they are the least controllable. If they run wild, the inevitable collapse might create a need for a strong reflationary policy.
TH:E following note is the result of a study by the Engineering Experiment Station of Iowa State College. It represents an attempt to find the form of the functional relation between cost and output in an electric light and power plant. A broader knowledge of such relations should be useful in discussions of light-plant economics. For instance, the extent to which the rate schedule should encourage consumption increases depends partly on the shape of the cost curves.