710 PONTIFICIAE ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARVM SCRIPTA VARIA - 28 
ing as complete as possible an overall view of the present state 
of my work on the theory of capital. 
To the best of my knowledge, there is no comparable equi- 
valent in current literature, for the approaches adopted else- 
where have been very different indeed. 
I would like tc take this opportunity to add that the results 
of this study, once established, are of great importance from 
the standpoint of the orientation of economic development po- 
licy. They show that the capitalistic structure as such has much 
less importance than is believed by a large segment of opinion. 
These results are the culmination of a long sequence of deduct- 
lons, and it is correspondingly important that each stage in 
‘he chain of reasoning be solidly established. 
In order to ease the task of the reader, the main notations 
and formulations have been grouped together in a summary 
section which precedes this study (!). Some further basic no- 
ions which will clarify the approach adopted in the study are 
given below. 
The object of the theory of the capitalistic optimum which 
is given is, on the one hand, to describe the econometric nature 
of roundabout methods of production, and also to show that 
we cannot expect, from an indefinite increase of available real 
capital, an indefinite increase of real national income consumed 
per inhabitant. The present study aims to show how the in- 
fluence of real capital on real income can be measured on the 
basis of a number of fairly weak assumptions. 
The general model which is presented in part II, and its 
exponential variant in particular, is shown to be very well 
borne out by all the empirical data which are at present avail- 
able — confirmation which relates as much to the assumptions 
as to the resnlts. 
() Perhaps the best introduction to this study is my 1962 article in 
« Econometrica »: AvLrars. The influence nt the Cabital-Outbut Ratio on 
Real National Income 
11] Allais - pag. 14