ON THE CONCEPT OF OPTIMAL ECONOMIC
GROWTH (*)

TJALLING C. KOOPMANS (**)
Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics at Yale Universita
New Haven. Conn - USA

APPROACHES 11

TiIE LITERATURE

The search for a principle from which an « optimal » rate
of economic growth can be deduced holds great fascination to
economists. A variety of attitudes or approaches to this problem
 can be discerned in the literature.
One school of thought, represented among others by Professor
 BAUER [1957], favors that balance between the welfare
of present and future generations that is implied in the spontaneous
 and individual savings decisions of the present generation.
 A policy implementing this preference would merely
seek to arrange for tax collection and other government actions
affecting the economy in such a way as to distort or amend the
individual savings preferences as little as possible.

(*) This research was undertaken by the Cowles Foundation for Research
in Economics, under Task NR 047-006 with the Office of Naval Research,
and completed under a grant from the National Science Foundation. An
abbreviated version of this paper was presented at a joint session of the
American Econcmic Association and the Econometric Society on « Intertemporal
 Economic Theory » in the Boston Meetings, December 1963.
(**) I am indebted to S CHakRavarTy. E S. Purrps and H. F. SCARF
for valuable comments

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Koopmans - pag.