At 09:55 24/09/97 -0700, Duncan wrote:
Ajit:
>>Well, in principle, one can always observe the total number of direct labor
>>spent in an economy, say UK in 1997. Of couse, one will have to convert the
>>skilled labors into unskilled labor hours. Let's assume that we agree on
>>conversion factors. We could also estimate the total amounts of various
>>goods and services consumed by the working class as a whole. We can
>>definitely observe the technology with which these goods and services and
>>their raw materials are produced.
_______
Duncan:
>I guess this is something of a weak link in my view. If you mean that
>input/output tables represent the technology used, then I would argue that
>input/output methodology is in fact a highly indirect way of inferring the
>technology used, since it is a transformation of the market price
>transactions in the market. That's not to say that there's no information
>in the input/output tables, but it seems to me putting the cart in front of
>the horse to argue that input/output tables are closer to the "real"
>economy than the market price data on which they are based.
>
>Cheers, Duncan
________________
I'm not sure if I understand this. Are you talking about choice of
techniques and its dependence on prices? Cheers, ajit sinha
>
>Duncan K. Foley
>Department of Economics
>Barnard College
>New York, NY 10027
>(212)-854-3790
>fax: (212)-854-8947
>e-mail: dkf2@columbia.edu
>
>
>