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SUMMARY This paper has been discussed at the Hindsgavl International Associa tion for Research in Income and Wealth conference September 1955. The postwar national income rates of growth in Poland Czechoslovaquia ungaria Rumania and Bulgaria are generally much higher than those of Western countries The upward bias of the indices employed explains only part of this fact The main real factors of growth are the increase of man power and working time the increase of labour productivity due essentially to very high rate of investment the shift of man-power from agriculture to industry After an attempt to measure the relative contribution of these factors to economic growth the author comes to the conclusion that no one of them can be developed on steady geometrical rate The economic growth of the countries concerned was fostered at the beginning by the existence of idle resources But it will depend more and more on the normal deve lopment of all the component factors The resulting rate of growth will gradually decrease to the level observed in more advanced countries The planning system can at best help to maintain an approximately linear but not an exponential pattern of development

SUMMARY The French national account shows that in comparison with the pre-war period the salaried group in its entirety did not benefit from any redis tribution This fact may be explained by the constancy of the relation of forces between the big socio-economic groups of the nation Is it then necessary to relinquish the analysis on two levels primary distribution first redis tribution after gener ly used by economits and to proceed to unique and total study oi the salarial income formation The author does not think so and he tries to deduci certain number of consequenses from the existences of an important redistribution inside the group of workers rliis internal transfert results in the folloiwing modification of the psycho-sociological behaviour of all the big group wages-earners employers and middle classes and the increase of their combativeness profound alteration of production structures and demand in that which concerns an important number of economic goods and services The author particulary estimates that growth of more than one third of the meat consumption is largely due to the existence of substancial family allowances by putting brakes on social mobility towards the high as well as towards the luw classe? from the proletarian groups as well as from the higher categories of wages earners by asking from the ethical point of view certain number of questions which were not explicitly envisaged by the legislator in that which concerns the national welfare advantage The multiplicity of criteria proposed by persons in favour of welfare mesures prevents the author to take any definitive position on this question which is still very contro versial

The evolution of property income. In the U.S.A results according to Kuznets, from movements of capital volume statistically represented by the capital output ratio and from variations of the average capital yield. It seems to present tendency to automatic stability that can be explained by movements in opposite directions even perhaps by an interreaction of the two variables. Diverse elements of complementary explanation are examined moreover the historic mechanism described by Kuznets is opposed to law of progressive decrease in property income. The abrupt decrease of this income in France in recent period brings to light an inverse mechanism which tend to amplify fluctuations if capital yield decreases the corresponding volume is reduced those reactions essentially come from the action of monetary factors. Methodological conclusion it is necessary to apply statistical concepts which are better adopted to precise research goals.

SUMMARY The author has first calculated an index of the terms of trade for French West Africa covering the period 1945-1954 The index of import prices used is the same as that established by Lengelle in report on fats and oils in the French union This index contains only prices of commodities imported for consumption of the native population in which textile goods have very large weight The export price index îrî based on .o.b export prices of groundnuts coffee cocoa priim kernel ilad palm oil which together amount for about 80 per cent of total exports of this territory The terms of trade thus measured are akin to the pro terms of trade rnther than to the usual concept which covers prices of all imported commodities The fluctuations of the terms of trade index and of its components import prices individual export prices throughout the period are ana lysed In 194.; the terms of trade were mudi worse than before the war They rose n-ipully and reached the 1938 level in 1947 new increase was recorded diu in.g the Korean boom tind the improvement continued unti 1954 These movements of the terms ol trade have been of exceptional magnitude and they often have diverged sharply from tho ïe observed in mos r;iw material producing countries The causes of these fluctuations have been complex world prices of export commodities inflation hi France and French West Africa price controls and price support schemes variations in exchange rates have been among the main factors But it is difficult to discern clear pattern of common factors applying to aU export commodities It is shown in particular that the two appreciations of the local currency .A franc relative to the French fraui hâve had Httle effect if any upon the terms of trade of the territory Finally an attempt is made to measure the effect of price support scheme and preferential import systems in France upon export prices of the territory It is found that the effect of this in 1954 was to rilise the weighted average of export prices by about 10 per cent above world price

SUMMARY Tlie depression of Southern regions of ly differs from the phenomenon of under development which Is widespread in other backward countries Dating from the formation of united Italy it may be explained by the failure of the economic and social integration of these regions in the new state This failure can be attributed to whole serie of factors charac teristic of the economic regression disproportion between population and resources pressure of the demographic evolution on the economic structure rigidity of the social organization and sclerosis of the mental structure But the attitude of the Italian public administration has been an especially influential factor neglecting ttie structural differences between the North and the South and identifying the interests of Northern industry with that of Italy the government carried out for nearly century an economic policy which has systematically aggravated the Southern depression Since the end of the last war the sudden awareness of the miserable conditions of the life of these populations and of the effects which result for the Italian economy as whole has given impetus to the application of development policy in the Mezzogiorno But this one is chiefly directed towards agriculture when only indus trialisation of these regions is capable of leading to state of full employ ment and of promoting the growth of Italian economy