PARETO OPTIMUM

The search for an optimal state,

With no room for change or movement,

Static, with no flow: a stagnant pool.

Economists have pursued for years

The Pareto trail in search of an elusive

Optimum-a fruitless quest, for change

Is the order of life. As Tennyson put it,

"Old

Today's optimum is tomorrow's sub-optimum,

Technology, tastes and conditions change:

Winners can compensate losers, the parched, dry earth

Can get a shower from heaven, new life can bloom.

Let us end this futile search for the optimum,

A never- never land, a mirage in the desert;

Let us focus instead on growth, change, progress-

A new order, full of promise and hope.

Farewell Pareto, thanks for your thoughts and insights;

Welcome Hicks and Kaldor-the dawn of a new day!

-© Chennat Gopalakrishnan