Journal Article Ownership Elasticities of Durable Consumer Goods Get access J. S. Cramer J. S. Cramer Cambridge Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 25, Issue 2, February 1958, Pages 87–96, https://doi.org/10.2307/2296206 Published: 01 February 1958

Introduction, 485. — L The demographic argument, 485. — II. The role of the propensity to consume and savings, 488. — III. The importance of external economies, 491. — IV. Overtones for policy of the doctrine of accelerated rates of investment, 492. — V. Conclusion, 493.

Journal Article Tariffs and the Balance of Payments: Reply Get access S. A. Ozga S. A. Ozga London School of Economics Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 72, Issue 2, May 1958, Pages 302–303, https://doi.org/10.2307/1880605 Published: 01 May 1958

Peak Loads and Efficient Pricing: Further Comment Get access H. S. Houthakker H. S. Houthakker Stanford University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 72, Issue 3, August 1958, Pages 463–464, https://doi.org/10.2307/1882235 Published: 01 August 1958

Although current theory of the maturity structure of interest rates is in no sense complete or integrated, it is a far more acceptable body of doctrine than is indicated in John Culbertson's recent article.' It is true that since the theory exists only among the pages of scattered journal articles it is extremely difficult for one to form a correct perspective of its current status. Culbertson's article, while informative and interesting in its description of institutional demand for securities, does little to lessen this difficulty since it presents a description of the current theory that is both incomplete and, in places, incorrect. This note will set forth an interpretation of existing theory and will discuss Culbertson's theoretical treatment of expectations.2 Both because of its development and for expositional convenience, the theory will be discussed under two headings: expectations and uncertainty. The discussion of expectations refers to the influence on present interest rates of expected future rates while the discussion of uncertainty refers to the influence on present rates of uncertainty of future rates. The term expectations refers to a measure of central tendency and the terms uncertainty and risk both refer to measures of dispersion of an investor's subjective probability distribution of anticipated outcomes. Irving Fisher's statement concerning expectations -the present long rate is an average of expected short rates discounted over the life of the longest security assumes unanimous and certain expectations of future interest rates. The current version relating to expectations, developed by John Hicks,4 Nicholas Kaldor,5 Michal

ONE of the ways of tracing changes in business concentration is to compare the rates of growth of firms of different sizes. If firms that are large at a certain date subsequently grow on the average more rapidly than small firms, business concentration will obviously have increased. It is not however always realized that the obverse proposition does not hold; that is, if the large firms have grown less rapidly than the small firms then -however paradoxical it may seem -concentration does not necessarily decrease. A related paradox -that associated with what is known as jobbing arises if we look at the average rate of growth achieved in the past by firms that are large today, and compare it with that for smaller firms. This differs from the previous example, since we are now looking backward in time instead of forward; as will be seen below, the two points of view are symmetrically related to one another. The matter is more complicated in its logic than appears at first sight, and it is perhaps not surprising that many careful empirical investigations are to be found in the literature which are vitiated by a logical fault in the inferences drawn from them. The errors are generally pointed out subsequently, only to be repeated by the next generation. The present note attempts to give a simplified but systematic exposition of the necessary conditions for changes in concentration; the basic algebra has already been set out from a different point of view in an earlier paper,' but the approach adopted here may be easier to follow. The statistician will recognize all that follows as being no more than the simple theory of in the sense of Galton (not in the modern sense, where regression is often taken as equivalent to the procedure of fitting a line by least-squares). Our understanding of the problem owes much to the review by Hotelling in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, xvIII (933), 463-65 of Secrist's The Triumph of Mediocrity in Business (Chicago, I933), and the subsequent discussion, ibid., XIX (I934), I96-2 00.2 Similar arguments are to be found in other contexts in the writings of Professor Milton Friedman.

Charles S. Sheldon, II, Primary Effects on Employment of Shifts in Demand from Domestic to Foreign Products: Comment, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 40, No. 1, Part 2. Problems in International Economics (Feb., 1958), pp. 106-108

Walter S. Salant, Primary Effects on Employment of Shifts in Demand from Domestic to Foreign Products: Reply, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 40, No. 1, Part 2. Problems in International Economics (Feb., 1958), pp. 108-110