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I suggest that the starting point for a study of the history of the  
concept of dynamic, as the deputy minister wishes to describe it,  
is J. B. Clark's THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH, the early  
chapters. Clark writes, in essence, that the model of static  
economy helps us frame the economic problem by giving us a  
grand vision of the market system in which individuals act in roles  
and perform functions. This prepares us for the study of the  
dynamic economy, which is largely unexplored.   
 
At a later time, Ludwig von Mises (HUMAN ACTION, chapter 14)  
drew on Clark's distinction to present a conception of the study of  
the dynamic economy as the study of entrepreneurial profit and  
loss.   
 
Yes, as Roy Weintraub suggests, there were developments in the  
mathematical approach to the study of the market economy which  
came to associate the term "dynamic" with equations that had t  
subscripts. But unless one takes mathematical economics as the  
prototype for economics in general, I think that it would be wise to  
begin with the philosophical or epistemological roots that are in  
Clark. It may well be that the undergraduate students with whom  
the deputy minister wish to communicate have a more imaginative  
mind than the technicians.   
 
Some of the ideas behind my remarks are contained in my paper  
"The Logical Concept of Equilibrium" at   
 
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/barclay/212/subjecti/workpape/log_equi.htm 
  
Pat Gunning, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman 
 
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