Abstract This article presents information on recent publications on cost accounting by the U.S. Government. Some of the books published are "Statistical Cost Functions of a Hosiery Mill," "The Relation of Cost to Output for a Leather Belt Shop," and "The Long-Run Behavior of Costs in a Chain of Shoe Stores." Between economic theory and business practice there is a deep and as yet un-bridged gull. The economist evolved a theory of how the rational businessman maximizes his profits, but this theory, however unassailable it may be logically, does not fit the facts of business practice very well. For this shortcoming economists used to lay the blame on the businessman, saying either that his behavior was not rational, or that he did not aim at maximizing profits. Only recently has it begun to be realized, since businessmen failed to reform themselves, that the economist may be the one to be blamed. He may have oversimplified his theory, and that he should learn something of the businessman's trade before theorizing about it.
T. de Scitovszky (Fri,) studied this question.