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SUMMARY Several economists especially Tinbergen have emphasised the failure of statistical verifications abolit the acceleration principle as technical explanation of business cycles Would the practical scope of this principle require an economic estimate of the entrepreneurs and accordingly depends on very eventual decision to invest To be convinced of it it has just to be proved that J.M relation is only verified for particular hypothesis i.e if both The supply of firuis relatively to the rise of prices Their demand of plant or of inventories relatively to the groNvth of supplied quantities have an elasticity equal to Now the first condi tion depends on the marginal costs the productivity of the different firms and too the entrepreneurs forecast upon the behaviour of demand The second condition depends on the marginal productivity of capital in each firm and technical characteristics of production in this branch In fact the acceleration may be stronger or of less importance than in the simplest generally recognised model

SUMMARY The note circulation is subject to long term fluctuations and also to shorter ones which reflect themselves every month in successive movements of expansion and contraction The expansion is primarily due to the fact that wages and salary pay ments are usually concentrated upon the end of the month which gives rise to temporary increases in the cash holdings of individuals The movements of contraction during the month appear to be primarily connected with tax payments loan flotations and uso with the degree of confidence in the currency Taking aside these monthly movements it has been possible however to trace definite trend towards slackening of the expansionist movement in the past years On the basis of such findings one can safely conclude that the note circulation is governed by series of independent factors besides those who influence the various sources of the money supply Government borro wings industrial and commercial advances inflow of foreign exchange This concept is particularly important since it shows hoiw the fluctuations In the various items of the weekly statement of Banque de France are to be interpreted

SUMMARY Monetary relations between Belgium and the Belgian Congo have under gone substantial modification at various times since that African State has been officially established b.v the Berlin Act 1S8 During the two World Wars the Belgium Congo being cut oft from the mother country wholly directed its trade and financial transactions towards reat-Britain and adopted common policy with the British Com monwealth In this manner OD two occasions tlie currency of the Belgian Congo happened to be connected with the sterling area At the end of the war one could have feared that owing to tlie divergent directions in which the economy of the mother country and of its colony had moved their respective currencies might slidw material disparity which would make it difficult to restore the former relations existing bet ween them Holwever owing to the clever policy pursued in this matter as well as to the favorable economic and financial conditions it has been possible in each case to resume the monetary relations between Belgium and the Belgian Congo on sound basis At the present time the franc of the Belgian Congo is au indépendant currency issued by an autonomous Institute but it is still linl to the Belgian franc by fixed parity

This study attempts to point out the respective advantages of the various participants in the sterling area. In order to do so it is situated on three successive complementary analytical planes. The advantages are sought in the framework of purely economical conjuncture through the cycle The study is transposed in the framework of what might be called an historical conjuncture animated by the political events which have marked the history of the area supplementary analysis is made considering the advantages proceeding from Imperial Preference