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University Daily Kansan Thursday, Dec. 18, 1958
Economist Pritchard Says
Recession Is Still With Us
"The recession is still with us," said Leland J. Pritchard, chairman of the economics department in an interview yesterday.
"Though there has been considerable recovery beginning last summer, it is improbable that the upswing will be sufficient to eliminate all cyclical unemployment," he said.
He explained that cyclical unemployment exists if the proportion of the labor force unemployed exceeds approximately four per cent.
"This would mean that the number of unemployed would have to be reduced to around 2.5 million to honestly say that we have recovered from the recession," he said.
In November, 1958, unemployed workers fell to 3.8 million. In Prof. Pritchard's judgment this is the minimum that will be reached in the "foreseeable future."
"We cannot say the recession is over even if GNP (gross national product) reached 1957 levels, which it has not. The real measure of recession and depression is the proportion of gainful workers unemployed." he said.
"GNP in 1939, for example, exceeded GNP in 1929, yet 1929 was a period of high prosperity while 1939 was still a year of deep depression," he continued. GNP is
not a valid measure, because population is increasing.
Though there is a depression, there will also be inflation, Prof. Pritchard predicted.
Leland J. Pritchard
"This seeming paradox exists because we now have a price- push type of inflation.
"Business-administered price structure tends to cause unemployment. The federal government
forestals this unemployment through deficit financing and the flotation of debt through the commercial banks.
"This creates more money, and causes a further upsurge in prices."
"A depression could be created, for instance, through heavy taxation of low income groups," he said.
He explained that the means of financing government expenditures, and not the level of government expenditures, is what creates inflation.
Prof. Pritchard, referring to the stock market, said:
"The market is grossly overpriced. Stock yields, for instance, are lower than yields on high grade bonds. In a normal market, stock yields should be higher.
"The market has historically declined sharply when stock yields are lower than those for high grade bonds, but there are new elements in the situation now.
"There is fear of perpetual inflation. The market, therefore, though over-priced now, may not be over-priced in five to ten years.
"If we are going to have inflation, stocks are worthwhile at almost any price if you hold them long enough."
"That is on the average," he cautioned. "You must buy the right stocks," he advised.
Students Not Getting Answers
(Continued from Page 1)
Students are not interested in these questions. They want to know if the basic assumption that there is a wholeness to life is true, he said.
"This generation is far more searching about religious faith than any previous generation. This is a wholesome thing," said Dr. Patton.
Some of the religious questions asked by students are: What is God? What is prayer? What is life all about? They ask specific theological questions, he said.
"These are real problems to the student," said Prof. Patton, "and many times they are more than the student can handle. He then seeks a counselor who will listen to his problem."
Proficiency Results Ready Jan. 12-16
David Dykstra, instructor of English, has announced that the results of the recent English Proficiency Examination will be ready for publication during the week of Jan 12-16.
Watch the Daily Kansan for a complete list of students who passed.
$750 Scholarship to Senior
James L. Gilliland, Lawrence senior, has been awarded the $750 Goodyear Scholarship Award. The award is made on the basis of scholarship and need. This is the second time that Gilliland has receive the honor.
Potter Lake was named for T. M. Potter, state senator, who once served on the Board of Regents.
An average of 20 pounds of plastic material is being used in every 1959-model automobile.
Grease Job $1
Brake Adi. 98c
Mufflers and Tallipipes Installed Free 1 qt. oil free with oil & filter change PAGE'S SINCLAIR SERVICE 6th & Vt.
This Christmas
Give A Book
From
THE BOOK NOOK
1021 Mass. VI 3-1044
Peiping Radio Tells of Unrest
TOKYO — (UPI) — Peiping Radio indicated today that the beehivelike "communes" which have swallowed up most of China's half-billion peasants are a source of widespread dissension in the Communist-conquered country.
A Peiping broadcast said 99 per cent of China's farm population is
now living in communes, while "some experiments have begun in the cities." It added, however, that large-scale development of city communes is likely only "when the skeptics and doubters have been convinced."
Kansan Want Ads Get Results
my dear Watson! From the happy look on my physio, from the cheerful lift you seem to be enjoying, I deduce you are imbibing Coca-Cola. No mystery about why Coke is the world's favorite . . . such taste, such sparkle! Yes, my favorite case is always a case of Coke!
Elementary...
SIGN OF GOOD TASTE
Bottled under authority of The Coca-Cola Company by KANSAS CITY COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO. Kansas City, Missouri
Official Bulletin
Items for the Official Bulletin must be brought to the public relations office, 222-A Strong, before 9:30 a.m. on the day of publication. Do not bring Bulletin material. Only Kansan. Notices should include name, place, date, and time of function.
TODAY
telecast and stereophone sound experiment of the Christmas Vespers. Channel 13 direct from Hoch Studios. Anyone is invited to attend.
Museum of Art film, 7.30 p.m. "Ancient
Greece," faculty panel follows.
WJHW-1.
KU Faculty Club, Beginners Bridge Dessert at 7:30 p.m. Call Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Schild, VI 3-2374, or Mr. and Mrs. Don Henry, VI 3-8145, for reservations.
TOMORROW
Newman Club Mass, 6:30 a.m. at St.
John's Church, 11th and Kentucky.
ADVENTURES IN SOCIAL SCIENCE: NO.1
"The proper study of mankind is man," said Geoffrey Chaucer in his immortal Casey At the Bat, and I couldn't agree more. In these tangled times it is particularly proper to study man—how he lives and works. Accordingly, this column, normally devoted to slapdash wagery, will from time to time turn a serious eye on the social sciences.
In making these occasional departures, I have the hearty approval of the makers of Philip Morris Cigarettes, whose interest is not only in providing young Americans with fine cigarettes, matehlessly blended of vintage tobacco, grown with loving care and harvested with tender mercy, then cured with compassionate patience and rolled into firm tasty cylinders and brought to you in long size or regular, in soft pack or flip-top box, at prices which wreak no havoc on the most stringent of budgets, but who are equally concerned with broadening the minds and extending the intellectual vistas of every college man and woman!
I, for one, am not unmoved by this great-heartedness, and though I know it is considered die these days to disparage one's employers, I shall not. Indeed, I shall cry "Huzzah!" for the makers of Philip Morris. I shall cry "Huzzah!" and "Viva!" and "Olé!" and "Ochichoonya!"
But I digress. For our first lesson in social science, let us turn to economics, often called the queen of the social sciences. (Sociology is the king of the social sciences. Advertising is the jack.)
Economics breaks down into two broad general classifications: 1) coins; 2) folding money. But before taking up these technical aspects, let us survey briefly the history of economics.
Economics was discovered by the Englishman, Adam Smith. He published his findings in 1786, but everybody giggled so hard that Smith, blushing hotly, gave up the whole thing and went into the cough drop business with his brother.
For long years after that economics lay neglected while the world busied itself with other things, like the birth of Victor Hugo, the last days of Pompeii, and the Bunny Hug.
Then one day while flying a kite during a thunderstorm, the American, Henry George (also called Thorstein Veblen), discovered the law of diminishing returns, and then, boy, the fat was in the fire! Before you could say "knife" the Industrial Revolution was on! Mechanization and steam power resulted in prodigies of production. For example, before the Industrial Revolution, a Welsh artisan, named Dylan Sigafoos, used to make horse-shoes by hand at the rate of four a day. After the Industrial Revolution, with the aid of a steam engine, Sigafoos was able to make entire horses!
And so it went—factories rising from the plains, cities burgeoning around the factories, transport and commerce keeping pace—until today, thanks to economics, we have smog, recessions, and economics textbooks at $7.50 per copy.
© 1958 Max Shulman
The makers of Philip Morris are no economists, but they do understand supply and demand. Some people demand filter cigarettes, so they supply the finest- Marlboro, of course! Great flavor, improved filter-a lot to like!