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May 1971

Social Priorities and the Market Allocation of Credit

by Darryl R. Francis

In recent years there has been much discussion concerning financial responsibility for the allocation of resources for social goals. Some contend that there is a widening gap between the performance of our financial institutions and the desires of society. They assert that society is concerned primarily with the relative shares of total expenditure in individual sectors of the economy, and that this is inconsistent with the concern of national monetary policymakers for aggregate activity and the profit motive governing the private financial community.