BUSHRODW.ALLIN 201 



NOTE BY MR. MASON Mr. Allin has raised some interesting ques- 

 tions concerning the role of a government economist. An economist, if he 

 is properly trained and is sensible, has a technique of analysis that can 

 make a contribution to a problem, if he sticks to his techniques and leaves 

 it to the politicians and others to make their guesses as to what the strength 

 of various interest groups is going to be. 



But I would hate to see government economists spending any more at- 

 tention than they do now to second-guessing politicians on how Congress 

 is going to behave with respect to particular measures. 



I defined conservation as narrowly as I did because I believe that econ- 

 omists can make their largest contribution to an examination of natural 

 resource problems if they distinguish fairly sharply between fundamental 

 issues and those that are not so important. 



