SEMAINE D'ÉTUDE SUR LE ROLE DE L’ANALYSE ECONOMETRIOUE ETC. 
1775 
absolutely no other way to proceed than by starting to define a gross 
oreference function, a preference function in the « Santa Claus » 
sense. That 1s the only way to proceed. 
This is of course not saying that any solution that comes out of 
the computing machine is going to be presented to the politician as 
the sole and final solution. It will certainly be necessary to proceed 
through a number of iterative steps, with contact between the poli- 
lician and the scientific expert. I have frequently spoken and written 
about the need for a continuous cooperation between the politician 
and the scientific expert. The iterative steps must be in the following 
sense. You start with a first and tentative formulation of the policy 
naker’s gross preference function. You run the solution and you 
come back to him and say « Now, this is what I found — is this 
what you want? — Then the politician will scratch his head and say: 
« Oh, no this is not really what I had intended. » Then you will 
have to start a conversation with him trying to find out more pre- 
cisely what he actually desires. You proceed to a second approxi- 
mation to his preference function. And so on until you finally arrive 
at a preference function and the corresponding solution both of which 
‘he policy maker can accept. 
Prof. KooPMANS had an important point when he said that the 
policy maker is not willing to give up his own ideas regarding the 
structure of the economy. This is — as I said very explicity in my 
Arst presentation — precisely the point on which you must concen- 
rate most of your attention in the discussion with the politician. You 
must make him give up his own ideas, about the structure. Why? 
Because if he does not do that, you will not be able to help him. It is 
ike a patient coming to a doctor. The patient has some preconceived 
deas about how to solve the problem of his sickness. The first thing 
‘he doctor must do is to try to get these ideas out of his head. If 
somebody is suffering from a psychiatric disease and he wants to 
jump out of the window and kill himself, what am I going to do? 
{ drag him by the neck and give him an injection. That is the first 
part of the treatment. I am not starting to argue with him at that 
moment. But when he is quietened down, I start to talk kindly toc 
yi Frisch - pag. 27