Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Page 203

FINLAND’S WAY TO PEACE ECONOMY 181
some time, such as heavy taxations and rationing, as inflation
tendencies are still very obvious. New tendencies of rising prices
may still occur. The isolation having been intensified during the
transition period, Finland must, far more than previously, pend
on home products; these may bring about rising prices for the
purpose of stimulating the production or the use of more ex-
pensive raw material and fuel found in the country. Higher
rates of exchange will also raise the import prices and con-
sequently the costs. Incitement to higher prices seems especially
alarming and must be seriously repressed if the price level in
foreign countries tends downwards.
The balance between the costs of production at home and
the export prices is the more important as full employment pre-
supposes that investment is profitable. Investment possibilities
are not missing. Rebuilding has been mentioned but is only
partly productive from the point of view of exports and com-
petes strongly with other investment purposes, which may be
considered more productive, such as the building of power-plants,
improvement of the means of transportation, etc., and it is not
easy to distinguish between rebuilding in a strict sense and filling
in the gaps of building enterprise interrupted during the war.
A dilemma will arise. On the one hand investment is required
for the purpose of employment and in view of the functions
of the productive plant, and a tolerable standard of housing,
but then there is a great danger that the lack of materials
will bring about a limitation of building activities for various
purposes which will be difficult to balance or will cause the
encouragement of investment to raise the prices, which again
will not allow investment to become profitable.
In short, it seems probable for various reasons that the anti-
inflationist policy must be continued to a certain degree during
the time of transition, but when this period is over, a more varied
and expansive policy may be wanted. One of the difficulties will
be to decide when the turning-point has been reached, considering
international conditions as well.
Sweden, who does not suffer under the same scarcity of
building-material and the same dearth of housing accomodation
and who is not either troubled by rebuilding problems, is not in
such a precarious situation and may plan and direct her investing
activities on behalf of employment in an entirely different way.
Sweden has not suffered the same losses in people as Finland