CH. 18 THE GENERAL THEORY RE-STATED 249

as the value of output will rise when employment in-creases even if the wage-unit and prices (in terms ofthe wage-unit) are unchanged, but, in addition, thewage-unit itself will tend to rise as employment im-proves, and the increase in output will be accompaniedby a rise of prices (in terms of the wage-unit) owing toincreasing cost in the short period.

Thus the position of equilibrium will be influencedby these repercussions; and there are other reper-cussions also. Moreover, there is not one of the abovefactors which is not liable to change without muchwarning, and sometimes substantially. Hence theextreme complexity of the actual course of events.Nevertheless, these seem to be the factors which it isuseful and convenient to isolate. If we examine anyactual problem along the lines of the above schematism,we shall find it more manageable; and our practicalintuition (which can take account of a more detailedcomplex of facts than can be treated on general prin-ciples) will be offered a less intractable material uponwhich to work.

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The above is a summary of the General Theory.But the actual phenomena of the economic system arealso coloured by certain special characteristics of thepropensity to consume, the schedule of the marginalefficiency of capital and the rate of interest, about whichwe can safely generalise from experience, but whichare not logically necessary.

In particular, it is an outstanding characteristic ofthe economic system in which we live that, whilst it issubject to severe fluctuations in respect of output andemployment, it is not violently unstable. Indeed itseems capable of remaining in a chronic condition ofsub-normal activity for a considerable period withoutany marked tendency either towards recovery or towardscomplete collapse. Moreover, the evidence indicates