SEMAINE D'ÉTUDE SUR LE ROLE DE L’ANALYSE ECONOMETRIQUE ETC. 
118C 
another to the extent that they are based on different assumptions 
about the future. To convince me, one ought to prove that such 
nconsistencies have no detrimental consequences. 
In line with Professor MAHALANOBIS, I should add that I do not 
like much the expression « to supplant the operation of the mar- 
Ket » because it implies more than it really says. Most people would 
agree that we have not to supplant the operation of the market if 
the market operates well. The only question is to know whether it 
does operate for the long-term allocation of resources. Are long- 
term decisions in agriculture enlightened by the operation of the 
market? So far as I know, they are not. Nowhere in the market 
process will an individual banker who considers making a loan to 
a farmer, find when the hybrid corn will reach the 80% level of 
diffusion, or what the price of corn will be in five vears from now. 
JOHNSON 
There is no question that some of the remarks in the last three 
or four pages are quite cryptic and perhaps warranted more detailed 
exposition. My excuse is that I thought the paper was already too 
long. I would like to explain and — in some degree — defend the 
position that I took with respect to the usefulness of agricultural 
projections and that such projections do not now « possess the ne- 
cessary degree of accuracy to make it feasible to rely upon detailed 
planning procedures which largely supplant the operation of the 
market ». Both Prof. MAHALANOBIS and Prof. MALINVAUD were 
somewhat concerned about that statement. 
What I meant by « detailed planning procedures » were quan- 
ity allocations, of inputs or outputs, or price determinations by 
sovernments that effectively determine the prices that affect pro- 
ducer and consumer decisions. Obviously, there are a variety of 
nterventions — planning — where I feel that we know enough. to 
rely on governmental actions; these are listed in the paragraph 
‘ollowing the sentence that has elicited these reactions. I there refer 
"161 Johnson - pag. 49