A quasi-competitive price basis for intersystem comparisons of economic structure and performance

The use of endogenously determined product and factor prices—to be termed “eigenprices”—is proposed for the comparative evaluation of structural characteristics and crucial performance criteria across different systems. The eigenprices are algebraically defined and a methodology for their computation is proposed. A special appendix tests the computability of these prices and their derivatives, and offers comparative orders of magnitude for a variety of countries.