Scale, Gestation and Durability-An Aspect of Project Selection

As early as in 1959, Kalecki and Rakowski of Poland came up with the proposition that the con- struction of more long-lived plants in an economy growing at a rapid rate is much less attractive and less economically justified than it is in a stagnant economy. Recently Amit Bhaduri has brought into a sharper focus the nature of the trade-off between the advantages of long life of a project and the corresponding disadvantages of long gestation period; and he has reiterated the above paradox.