SEMAINE D'ÉTUDE SUR LE ROLE DE L’ANALYSE ECONOMETRIOUE ETC. 245 (DY) The optimal bath satisfies the condition (18) wx) 2.=14 — ulx. that at any time the net increase in capital per worker mul- tiplied by the marginal utility of consumption per worker equals the net excess of the maximum sustainable utility level over the current utility level. This condition is similar to the KEyNES-RAMSEY condition [RAMSEY, 1028, equation (5)] formulated in terms of absolute amounts of consumption, and reverts to it for A=0. KEYNES intuitive reasoning in support of this condition carries over with only slight reinterpretation. A number of analogous results can be obtained if the uti- lity of a consumption path is defined as an integral over the instantaneous utility flow discounted at a positive instantaneous rate p. (EY The utility function (19) Va) = 20 [ oot ulx,) dt. where 5 > o is defined for all feasible paths for which x,>>x for all t, when- ever X >0 RAMSEY’s device is therefore unnecessary in this case. We shall however obtain an economy of notation if instead of V(p) we use the utility function 20) “lo. U.a ~~ 0 .| Koopmans - pag. 19