Admittedly, convergence is more rapid today, but how fast will wages in Haiti converge with the US? Where will the equilibrium be on that continuum?
On Sat, Oct 29, 2005 at 03:17:47PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote: > On 10/29/05, Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I was thinking more in terms of Marx's understanding of merchant capitalism > > as a system in > > which profits were made by arbitrage rather than by improving methods of > > production. > > One difference is that under merchant capital, the wage and price > differentials were long-lasting; the equalization effects of arbitrage > were weak. These days, the equalization effect is stronger, mostly (it > seems) occurring in a downward direction for wages. > > The reason why the equalization effects were weak was because merchant > capital acted as a "middleman" between precapitalist modes of > production and nascent industrial capitalism. Nowadays, slavery and > feudalesque systems are marginal rather than central. > -- > Jim Devine > "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let > people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
