Response—External Finance: A Necessary Component in Growth Projections for Southern Agriculture

The discussion of my paper by Emanuel Melichar presented elsewhere in this issue of the Journal initially focuses on use of mathematical notation when discussing concepts and theory in the absence of corresponding empirical estimates. Apparently attempting to demonstrate how a relatively simple task—illustrating the areas in which financing considerations should be included in sector projections models—was made difficult by using “hieroglyphics,†Melichar summarizes the equations in my paper with brief, one sentence descriptive statements. Unfortunately, he chooses to ignore the fact that economic relationships inherent in each equation were discussed so that “decoding by faithful readers†is not required by those uninterested in issues related to specification of variables or aggregate model design.