This paper outlines an optimization framework which extends the familiar Tinbergen-Theil model in two ways. First, a "piecewise quadratic" replaces the standard quadratic objective function. Second, the time horizon of the optimization becomes, within the context of economic stabilization problems, endogenous to the optimization process itself. The purpose of both extensions is to escape the conceptual restrictiveness of the Tinbergen-Theil structure while preserving the practical convenience of that model for applied policy work. The paper also describes a solution algorithm incorporating these two extensions, and it presents the results of a sample computational application based on the 1957-58 recession.The goal of mitigating economic fluctuations and their social effects has long attracted economists' interest, and it continues to do so. After nearly a decade of seemingly perpetual expansion in the United States economy, the 1970 recession has once more focused attention on stabilization policy. How can policy cope with the apparently conflicting goals of highemployment prosperity and price stability? How rapidly should policy seek to return the economy to a full-employment situation? What timing patterns should the fiscal and monetary policy authorities adopt for their actions? These and similar questions form the basis of discussions on the academic, political, and popular levels.The post-WVorld War II economics literature has developed-in the work of Theil (1964), Tinbergen (1966), and others'-at least one practi-
