Elizabeth Gurley Flynn belongs in the Pantheon of inspiring and effective women in the 20th century.
On May 11, 2014, at 9:52 PM, Tom Walker <[email protected]> wrote: > http://ecologicalheadstand.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-sticky-wages-of-sin.html > > Sunday, May 11, 2014 > > The Sticky Wages of Sin > "Only now can one fully understand the effrontery of these apologists." -- > Karl Marx, Capital. > "Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it is just the > reverse." -- Polish joke (cited by J. K. Galbraith in Journey to Poland and > Yugoslavia, 1958). > David Spencer (2002) and Aaron Pacitti (2011) have each observed similarities > between the efficiency wage explanation for equilibrium unemployment (Shapiro > and Stiglitz, 1984) and Marx's theory of the reserve industrial army. "In a > sense," writes Spencer, "the debate has come full circle. Marx’s reserve army > of labour, it seems, is alive and well and still operates to discipline > resistant workers." > > "Efficiency wage models arrive at the same conclusion," Pacitti argues, "but > for reasons altogether different than those suggested by Marx." Because the > efficiency wage model indicates an inverse relationship between the > unemployment rate and the wage premium needed to discourage shirking, the > hypothesis, "strengthens Marx's conclusion that unemployment will lead to > lower wages, albeit through a different channel." > > Both Spencer and Pacitti are critical of the efficiency wage hypothesis, as > are Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot (1994) and Warren Samuels (1994). Robert > LaJeunesse (2004) cites Samuels's criticism of the asymmetrical treatment of > shirking by the neoclassical mainstream and elaborates on Veblen's more > balanced analysis of sabotage by both management and labor. > > Spencer mentions in a footnote the incongruity of earlier economists viewing > lowwages as a necessary spur to work effort "to combat the labourer’s high > demand for leisure and to maintain labour discipline." He also mentions in > passing that "workers may deliberately slow down the pace of their work as a > defensive > reaction against the threat of unemployment." > > > > Spencer neglected to mention, however, that indignation at such "restriction > of output" by workers was a perennial motif of businessmen, economists and > editorialists in their exasperated denunciations of a supposed lump-of-labor > fallacy. > > These accusations were the context for Elizabeth Gurley Flynn's I. W. W. > pamphlet, Sabotage, that served as an inspiration for Veblen's (1921) > discussion of the "conscientious withdrawal of efficiency" by business. > "Sabotage..." wrote Flynn, "is a very old thing, called by the Scotch 'ca > canny.' All intelligent workers have tried it at some time or other when they > have been compelled to work too hard and too long." > > In The Economics of Unemployment, John Hobson (1922) gave an unorthodox, > even-handed account of the symmetry of workers' and the employers' versions > of ca'canny: > Behind all these changes and chances of industrial life there lurks the > abiding shadow of an unemployment due to the normal over-supply of > labour-power beyond the current requirements of the market. Workers observe > that, if this full supply is brought into effective use, it leads in a short > time to a congestion of the markets, a fall of prices, a stoppage and a long > period of under-employment. If, therefore, at any ordinary time the workers > in employment were to give out their full productive energy, they would only > expedite this process of congestion and depression. This, I think, is the > underlying economics of 'ca' canny.' > If this labour-economics stood alone, it might be dismissed as shortsighted > partisanship. But put by its side the corresponding doctrine and practice of > employers, embodied in the economics of trusts and combinations. What is the > directly impelling motive for the formation of most of these capitalist > combines? The avoidance of 'cut-throat competition.' And what else is this > than a recognition of a tendency of unregulated capitalism in an industry to > produce goods faster than the market can and does expand to receive them, at > a price adequate to cover costs of production? In other words, combination > for restriction of output is the capitalist alternative to over-production, > congestion and stoppage. > Orthodox economic theory has thus come full circle, from viewing low wages as > a prod to work effort and shirking as a misguided response by workers to the > threat of unemployment to theorizing high wages as an incentive for work > effort and unemployment as an employers' disciplinary device to discourage > shirking. One element has remained constant, though: it is the workers who > are presumed to sin against productivity. > > > > Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot (1994) "The Logic of Contested Exchange."Journal > of Economic Issues, 28, pp. 1091–1114. > > Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1916) Sabotage. I. W. W. > > John A. Hobson (1922) The Economics of Unemployment. > > Robert M. Lajeunesse (2004)"Keeping Labor Productive: Veblen's notion of > reserve capacity and procyclical productivity analysis." Journal of Economic > Issues, 38:3, pp. 611-627. > > Aaron Pacitti (2011) "Efficiency Wages, Unemployment, and Labor > Discipline."Journal of Business & Economics Research, 9:3, pp. 1-10. > > Warren J. Samuels (1994) "On 'Shirking' and 'Business Sabotage': A Note." > Journal of Economic Issues, 28:4, pp. 1249-1255. > > Carl Shapiro and Joseph E. Stiglitz (1984) "Equilibrium Unemployment as a > Worker Discipline Device." The American Economic Review, 74:3, pp. 433-444. > > David A. Spencer (2002) "Shirking the Issue? Efficiency wages, work > discipline and full employment." Review of Political Economy, 14:3, 313-327. > > Thorsten Veblen (1921) The Engineers and the Price System. > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
