Knowledge that Transforms

Journal Article The Economics of the Iron and Steel Industry Get access M. M. Bober M. M. Bober Lawrence College Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 52, Issue 1, November 1937, Pages 179–185, https://doi.org/10.2307/1884504 Published: 01 November 1937

Introduction, 37.— Establishment of import quotas in the United States, 39.— Administrative provisions, 44.— Size of quotas, 47.— Effects of import quotas, 51: (1) Quotas which were not filled, 52; (2) Tariff quotas which were filled, 54; (3) Absolute quotas which were filled, 54.— Conclusions, 62.

I. Business plans based on anticipations, 273.— II. The optimum plan under subjective certainty, 277; its revision when anticipations change, 281; generalisation for monopolistic competition, 283. — III. Uncertainty leads to flexibility in planning, 285; capital-market uncertainty leads to "liquidity, " 290. — IV. Breakdown of anticipations helps explain business cycles, 291.

I. The method and earlier applications of it, 1.— Scope of the present study, 5.— Differences between Victorian and American industry, 5.— II. The index of production: method and sources, 6; its movements during the period, 18.— III. The index of labor: method and sources, 19; comparison with index of production, 21. IV. The index of capital: method and sources, 21. — V. The equation of production, 24. — VI. Comparison of the computed and actual indexes of production, 25.— Analysis of the divergences of P′ from P, 29.— Comparison of the trends, 32.— Deviations from the trends, 33.

Effect of population developments not well understood, 649.— I. Population growth shows great waves, mainly caused by great wars, 650. — The German figures since the Napoleonic Wars, 651.— IL Co-variation with business cycles, 654.— III. Population growth requires new capital equipment, 657.— Such expansion involves less risk than that inspired by technical progress or by the opening of new markets, 658.— The theory explains well-known phenomena of the business cycle, 659.— Limitations of the theory: intentional simplification, 660; uncertainty as to other countries, 660; cycles differ widely in details, 661.

Introduction, 393.— I. “Land ownership,” 394.— II. Tenancy and mortgage indebtedness, 396.— III. Share croppers, 398; leases to relatives, 399.—IV. Farm laborers, 402.—V. The “agricultural ladder,” 407.— VI. Analysis by decades, 411.— VII. Analysis by regions and groups, 413.—VIII. Growth 1930–35, 416.—IX. Descent of the “ladder,” 417.— X. Character of our tenancy, 421.— XI. Conclusions, 423.

Some Aspects of the General Problem, 318. — Selection of Indicators, 320. — The Problem of Averaging, 327. — Conclusions, 333.

I. Distinction between logical and methodological problems, 337. — II. Methodological pattern of a deductive theory, 339. — III. Implicit vs. explicit definitions, 342. — Fundamental limitations of implicit theories, 344. — IV. Examples of implicit theorizing: Joan Robinson's “corrected units,” 346. — R. F. Kahn's theory of “ideal output,” 347. — J. E. Hicks' generalized concept of elasticity of substitution, 348. — J. M. Keynes' concepts of aggregate supply and demand curves, 349.

Some misconceptions examined relative to: marginal revenue, 558; increasing returns, 560; tangency of demand and cost curves, 561; large numbers and divisibility, 562; restriction of entry, 566; differentiation of product, 568.— The nature of monopolistic competition, 570; contrast with imperfect competition, 573.— Significance of the difference with respect to: profits, 576; "competitive" norms, 576; "exploitation, " 577.