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The outcome of the Pasinetti process reconsidered: A note

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Conclusion

By introducing into the Pasinetti model the plausible assumption that workers and capitalists, respectively, maximize their consumption over time, it has been shown, that only with a “well-behaved” production function may the long-run outcome of the Pasinetti process be considered as an equilibrium position. In all other cases capitalists can increase their steadystate level of consumption without sacrificing any consumption today. As the maximal capitalists' consumption per head is determined by the technical conditions of production, the profit rate isnot independent of those conditions. We have not taken into account all problems of stability of the steady-state paths or the question of utility maximization over time, i. e. optimal saving; the former because the analysis of the transition processes are very difficult, the latter because of the dubious assumptions, which are necessary to get some convenient results.

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Jaeger, K. The outcome of the Pasinetti process reconsidered: A note. Zeitschr. f. Nationalökonomie 34, 183–188 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01289154

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