Contenu du sommaire : Le modèle défi : débouchés, emplois, filières interindustrielles

The Défi model : rationale, principal concepts and applications, by François Péronnet and François Rocherieux. An overall model of the system of production is required to understand the incidence of the evolution of the division of labor upon the allocation of employment. Interindustry relations must be taken into account in developing such a model. But to ensure unequivocal interpretation of data, the model should be limited to the national economy: interrelations based on exchanges of goods and services produced within the national economy during the period under consideration should alone be taken into account in analyzing the allocation of employment. Imported production factors, or those provided by stocks of capital goods produced in prior periods, should be considered as being primary in this model, as opposed to factors produced during the period. The set of data provided by the model is structured within an original framework, based on theoretical divisions on the basis of a) final outlets and b) analysis of production according to the primary factors consumed. The concepts of economic channel and macroeconomic section (as distinguished from macroeconomic sector) then shed new light on the dynamics of employment, as these two traditionally distinct levels of analysis are systematically placed in perspective. The applications of the Defi model are then developed along three major lines of investigation: the structure of production system channels, macroeconomic specialization with respect to domestic and international outlets, and the development of indicators of overall productivity.

Production system channels and macroeconomic sections, by François Rocherieux. The analysis of economic specialization, seen both in terms of final outlets for goods and in terms of the relations among the agents of the system of production, must be based on interindustry model theory. In light of the proposed scope of investigation, sectional analysis and intersectional synthesis are called for at the macroeconomic level to serve as a functional reconstruction of the division of labor; structurally, the division of labor within the system of production is represented by the entire set of production channels. These concepts are defined on the basis of an extended formalization of interdustry-analysis methods. The resulting framework then enables a critical investigation into the often-proposed notions of « channel » and of the division into macroeconomic categories. Finally, the Defi model is seen in the perspective of a generalized analysis of the division of labor which locates the system of production in the context of economic time and space.

Three examples of the application of the Defi model to employment dynamics and to internationalization of the economy, by François Rocherieux. The relationship between employment dynamics and internationalization, a topic of considerable current interest, has been chosen to illustrate the applications of the Defi model. The macroeconomic analysis conducted through the sectional system shows the full significance of international outlets upon employment levels. Then, by examining jointly the structural characteristics of the exporting section of the economy, and the means by which imports enter the national economy, the interdependence between international inputs and international outputs for the economy are underlined. The particular place held by industrial investment goods in international trade justifies a comparison of electrical equipment and electronics activities, which examines these categories both in terms of their macroeconomic specialization and in terms of their place in the system of production.