1. permanent technological unemployment is real. 2. historically, it has been usually offset by other semi-independent factors. 3. but not always... 4. the productivity gains from machines (including computers) are grossly exaggerated. 5. a lot of what is counted as productivity is, in fact, social and environmental cost shifting. 6. instead of getting "more output from less input" capital finds a way to not have to pay for some of the inputs.
On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 3:43 PM, Eugene Coyle <[email protected]> wrote: > The Wall St. Journal, 7/15/2013 has a story with the following headline > and opening paragraphs. > > > Amid Falling Enrollment, Law Schools Are Cutting Faculty > > Law schools across the country are shedding faculty members as > enrollment plunges, sending a grim message to an elite group long sheltered > from the ups and downs of the broader economy. > > > > Having trimmed staff, some schools are offering buyouts and > early-retirement packages to senior, tenured professors and canceling > contracts with lower-level instructors, who have less job protection. Most > do so quietly. But the trend is growing, most noticeably among middle- and > lower-tier schools, which have been hit hardest by the drop-off. > > > Wait, is this just declining enrollment or technological unemployment? > > Computer programs that can review documents had notoriously cut employment > of lawyers and lowered pay scales. That's technological unemployment. Of > course the Great Recession also cut ordinary demand for lawyers, which is > just ordinary unemployment. > > And the secondary effect is of the combined impact of those two is the > loss of jobs at law schools. We don't think of (some of) that as > technological unemployment but ... . > > Gene > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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