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Titre Le problème économique de l'indexation
Auteur Henri Guitton
Mir@bel Revue Revue économique
Numéro 1955, no 2 La pratique de l'indexation en France
Page 187-217
Résumé anglais The main purpose of indexation is to try to give stability to world which is more and more unstable It is an automatic insurance stratagem against the effects of price variations in most cases against rise of prices The first historic-ill applications twere called sliding scale regar ding to cereals and afterwards wages At iirst indexation has been partial With the progressing vanishing of money within an economy which is prey to inflation it has tendency to be generalized to every agree ment It is the practice of indexed loans indexed leases indexed taxes etc The author wonder if tlie effects of partial indexation are the same that tliose of generalized indexation After having outlined classification of the disparities iwhich call for indexation and tnken for pattern wages sliding scale his thesis is that partial indexation may correct the damage of indexation wit-h regard to the victims who benefit from thîs insurance process on condition that the surrounding on iwhich it is exerted will be secure Or to speak differently indexation when partial neutralizes more than it maintains inflationist pressure On the contrary if all economic subjects believe themselves to be victims of rise of prices if they all want to be insured so to speak if indexation gro universal the author seeks if surrounding may be able to bear the burden of insurance Here he outlines theory of incidence of indexation He does not believe that universal indexation is impossible But he dreads that we would delude ourselves on pretext of having found an apparent stability in boundlessly unstable world Do we go into world without fluctuation or growth by suppressing every disparity By generalizing indexation we turn money itself into sliding index Fundamentally the late French experiment brings us an optimistic conclusion It was good thing to set up indexation for the only fact to have instituted it has contributed to check inflation It could also be an happy opportunity to amend the structures
Source : Éditeur (via Persée)
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