Foreword

It would seem logical at this point that we should go into an investigation of the evolution of the physical production structure of the economic system through time. But this would open up an immense field of inquiry, at a stage – that of the minimal production model – which would no longer be sufficient to the purpose.

In the previous pages, we have quite extensively dealt with the evolution of the price system. The vertically integrated character of the present analysis has helped us through an almost self-contained treatment of the structural movements of prices. But as soon as we come to physical quantities, vertically integrated analysis can help only partially, i.e., only with reference to the evolving production structure of final consumption goods; and this is not enough. We have come to the point, mentioned towards the end of chapter I, where vertically integrated analysis and inter-industry analysis should be merged and used in a complementary way in order to proceed in a satisfactory manner. In simple terms, at this point it seems unreasonable that we should pretend to go satisfactorily into an analysis of the evolution of the physical production structure, without first enlarging the minimal model of a pure labour economy and extending it to the treatment of capital accumulation and natural resources. But this would take us well beyond the purpose of the present work.

It may be useful nevertheless to push our curiosity beyond the present stage.