Epistemological shell of the econometric findings

Abstract

The paper is a continuation of the dialogue relating to the study cited as the first item in the reference list to this article. It contains further comments on that study as well as responses to the authors? reply to the previously given comments, published in a special issue of the Ekonomski anali cited as the second item of the reference list. The principal issue of this exchange is the treatment of previous non-econometric work in the field of macroeconomic interrelationships and of the corresponding changes in the economy of Serbia. The postulate advanced in this text is the same as the one in the previous critical review of the study by Arsic et al. (2005a) and consists in the statement that econometric analysis of empirical characteristics of the Serbian economy should respect and incorporate knowledge accumulated through the use of non-econometric techniques before the study was produced. Econometricians should do that by framing appropriately their maintained hypotheses, by selecting structural specification of the various relations in the model and through interpreting the results obtained in the form of econometric estimates. A number of critical observations are reiterated regarding the way some relations are structurally specified. Among such criticized relations are the model?s production function having imports as the only argument and the import function. Imports are judged as inappropriate in the role of the argument in the production function because they not only contribute to production through technological complementarities but also reduce it through the demand segment of the system, by capturing a good deal of domestic demand and stifling a number of sectors of domestic economy. Imports are financed, among other, by several ephemeral, short-lived sources such as donations, foreign indebtedness and privatization receipts. Imports are therefore not sustainable and their enormous increase within a limited time interval boils down to a destructive blow, to a dangerous shock to the domestic economy similar to the Dutch disease. Critical remarks are also given regarding the import function in which the sum of wages and salaries is adopted as a measure of the aggregate demand.