A Methodological Note on Long-Period Positions

This brief paper seeks to overcome a number of methodological disagreements among economists who use the long-period method of analysis. In particular, it attempts to clarify the key distinctions between convergence and stability, convergence and gravitation and chronological and theoretical persistence. The conclusion is that the theoretical soundness of the long-period method depends on the convergence of actual magnitudes towards their long-period counterparts, an empirical issue to which theoretical considerations of stability are irrelevant. A revised version of this paper appeared on Contributions to Political Economy (2007, n. 26)