SEMAINE D'ÉTUDE SUR LE ROLE DE L ANALYSE ECONOMETRIQUE ETC, 1185 
With the points made in pp. 37-38, I am in complete agreement 
We are rapidly promoting the use of fertilizers in India; we are also 
starting the manufacture of machinery to set up new fertilizer plants. 
But there is one point which has not been brought out, namely, 
the need of price support, or more precisely, having both floor and 
ceiling prices because consumers must also be protected. There 
should be buffer stocks and open market operations to the largest 
extent possible. In India, Government could hold 5 or 6 million 
tons of foodgrains in suitably located warehouses. There would be 
pre-determined floor prices which may vary for different crops in 
different areas; when the price touches the pre-determined low point 
in any area, Government would start purchasing immediately with 
a guarantee to continue without limit; this would give necessary 
price support to growers. On the other hand, once the ceiling price 
is touched, Government would start selling and this would protect 
the consumers. Such a system, I think is necessary in countries 
where there is a scarcity of food but not in countries like Thailand 
or Burma where there is a surplus. I think it would be of great 
help if the advanced countries would try to persuade an underde- 
veloped country to adopt the above policy (using if necessary United 
States PL 480 arrangements) to build up buffer stocks and have 
open-market operations with not too large a gap between the floor 
and ceiling prices so that speculators would not come in. This 
should be adequate; other methods of physical control may have to 
be used if the scarcity becomes very acute. I am amplifying the 
remedies but not really differing from Mr. JoHNSON. 
[ could not agree more with the statement on page 38, that there 
are many questions which are not now within the range of econo- 
metricians, or may be they can never be — I am leaving that 
question open; I am simply agreeing that they are now beyond the 
techniques which have been so far developed and which may be 
entirely suited to the needs of the advanced countries. There is a 
great danger of highly trained econometricians in my country going 
on solving problems which may be entirely valid in respect of ad- 
vanced countries but which have no relevance to the problems 
[16] Johnson - pag. 45