Theory of Production
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RAGNAR FRISCH
THEOR Y OF PRODUCTION
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V
Innledning til Produksjonsteorien First published as 'Memorandum fra Universitetets Sosialekonomiske Institutt', Os/o, Norway Trans/ated from the Norwegian by R. I. Christophersen
SOLE DISTRIBUTORS FOR U.S.A. AND CANADA
RAND McNALLY & COMPANY, CHICAGO
1965
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means without permission from the publisher ISBN 978-94-017-5768-3 ISBN 978-94-017-6161-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-6161-1 Softcover reprint of the hardcover Ist edition 1965
PREFACE
In this feverish world of ours, where one wants the economic analyses to produce easily understandable results quickly and at the least possible cost, some of us have fallen into the habit of assuming for simplicity that the hundreds and sometimes thousands of variables that enter into the analyses are linked together by very simple relationships. Frequently we even go so far as to assume linear relationships. Only in this way have we been able to feed our problems into the electronic computers and get mechanical answers quickly and at low cost. I would be the last to deny that there are instances where this is a most useful and convenient procedure. I am myself interested in this type of work. (I shall return to this point at the end of the preface.) But, in our enthusiasm for the powerful, modern means of calculation, we have run the risk of neglecting something essential which the good old 'traditional' ways of reasoning brought home to us. These good old types of analyses we shall however never be able to dispense with. We will in the end always need to fall back on them. The danger of losing something essential in this feverish world of ours is particularly acute in the theory of production. The classical authorities on this subject, Ricardo, von Thünen, Justus von Liebig, John Clark, Leon Walras, Knut Wieksen and others devoted much of their time and energy to discussions that were not centred around this or that simple type of mathematical relationship, but proceeded directly from thefundamentallogic ofthe laws ofproduction. lt is in the same spirit that the present work is conceived. I began thinking about these problems long before the advent of electronic computers. Tobe precise: Already in the fall term of 1926 I delivered lectures in the Oslo University on the theory of production. Andin 1962 the ninth edition ofmy Norwegian lectures on this subject was published. I have retained my admiration for the classical ideas also after I started to devote a good part of my time and energy to mathematical programming. I have felt it a mission to safeguard the classical ideas, to systematise and developthem, and to endeavour to present the whole in a coherent and logicalform.
VI
PREFACE
This book is based in its substance on my Norwegian lectures. I had neither the time nor the space in this book to go into the several specialised subjects, which I had initially proposed to
