[PEN-L:5858] Re: A Non-Linear FROP Cycle
Alan, It is surely not hard to produce models that have some form of oscilatory behaviour? But what does this tell us? I have found that the more details that I put into a model the more chaotic and unstable it becomes. The real problem is to produce a model that even succeeds in physical reproduction over a substantial period. I find that what tends to happen in disaggregated models is that a key industry - say coal eventually suffers bankrupty of a majority of firms so that coal production falls below the level necessary to sustain reproduction. This mode of collapse - Brownian - had not occured to me before, as it is not in the standard Marxian literature. But on thought it occured to me that this type of crisis - the bankruptcy of a majority of firms in a basic industry - has in the past prompted nationalisations in the UK.
[PEN-L:5860] Re: FW: BLS Daily Report
On Fri, 14 Jul 1995 10:39:38 -0700 Richardson_D said: [among other things] Business Week's cover story (July l7) is "Wages: They're Stagnant, While Profits Are Soaring. Are We Headed for Trouble?" The accompanying article (page 54) says that weak wage growth is sapping demand: Corporate profits are at a 45-year high, unemployment is low, and productivity continues to climb. Wages, however, are not keeping pace, holding down income growth, consumer spending, and the overall economy. Does this seeming defiance of the laws of supply and demand signal a structural change in the economy? The Business Week article is useful, warning that "it could spell trouble for corporations and politicians alike" if workers got together. Also, that "the burden is likely to fall on the political system to educate and contain an increasingly distressed workforce." If only the left understood as much as the bourgeoisie! Question: the article (p.56) states that the "healthy" productivity gains since 1991 are due to "those stiff measures" like layoffs, lower wages, etc. But the related editorial says that it's time for the Fed to stimulate more growth because with productivity so high, there's little risk in economic stimulus; implication being that unless this is done there'll be unrest in the "middle class" -- i.e., that same distressed workforce. Is this assessment of the productivity gains accurate? And if so, isn't it something of a contradiction to propose that productivity achieved by screwing the workers will be maintained if the bourgeoisie eases up on them? Walter Daum [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:5859] Re: (Fwd) RE: extended reproduction question
John Ernst asked: Are you not assuming that exchanges take place at prices of production? Note that in your quote Marx talks about increases in productivity cheapening the elements of constant and variable capital. And, note as well, in the previous part of CAPITAL he has just introduced market values and market prices. The question becomes in considering FROP -- Do we measure the elements of variable and constant capital in terms of market values and market prices or in terms of prices of producition? Given the structure of the work, the anwwer seems obvious. Paul Cockshott replies -- Has John or anyone else done any empirical work with time-series of i/o tables to establish whether one actually gets different results whether prices of production or values are used? If not, it seems useless speculation. Hic Rhodus Hic Saltus!
[PEN-L:5861] Re: (Fwd) RE: extended reproduction question
On Sat, 15 Jul 1995 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Paul Cockshott) said: John Ernst asked: Are you not assuming that exchanges take place at prices of production? Note that in your quote Marx talks about increases in productivity cheapening the elements of constant and variable capital. And, note as well, in the previous part of CAPITAL he has just introduced market values and market prices. The question becomes in considering FROP -- Do we measure the elements of variable and constant capital in terms of market values and market prices or in terms of prices of producition? Given the structure of the work, the anwwer seems obvious. Paul Cockshott replies -- Has John or anyone else done any empirical work with time-series of i/o tables to establish whether one actually gets different results whether prices of production or values are used? If not, it seems useless speculation. Hic Rhodus Hic Saltus! It seems to me one might want to at least define what one means by "different results" prior to gathering data and carrying out such work. There are several possibilities and all could perhaps be tested. However, in this endeavor we would likely encounter data collection problems. Do we get data from one country, several, all? For what period of time do we collect data? More important, definitions of "value", "market value", "price of production", etc. should be clear prior to diving for data. One might indeed say "Hic Rhodus, Hic Saltus." But, with thought, why not "Look before you leap."? Cheers, John R. Ernst
[PEN-L:5863] productivity
At 5:11 AM 7/15/95, Walter Daum wrote [about BizWeek]: Is this assessment of the productivity gains accurate? And if so, isn't it something of a contradiction to propose that productivity achieved by screwing the workers will be maintained if the bourgeoisie eases up on them? I don't know about the source of overall productivity gains, but the productivity gains from leveraged buyouts came from the closure and liquidation of weak plants or units and reduction of overhead expenditures rather than sustained improvements at continuing operations. They have no intention of easing up on the workers. I've been reading one of my favorite publications, the BIS annual report. It records a great determination to keep the squeeze on - European monetary policy is likely to follow the Fed's model of tightening early and hard. They're worried about wage inflation despite high unemployment in Europe. Fiscal policy *everywhere* is tight and getting tighter. Wasn't growth once, for like centuries, the greatest good of capitalist life? Doug -- Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax
[PEN-L:5864] Re: Again, help requested
I would suggest that the classification of heterodox economics should contain sections covering non-capitalist economies. At the very least there is a literature on Tribal economies Meillassoux etc, Slave economies ancient and modern and on feudal economies. At the other end there is an extensive literature on socialist economies.
[PEN-L:5865] Mondragon
Someone ase ked (Let us try this again) Someone asked about critiques of Mondragon. Someone else responded with the two best sources in book form on the Mondragon experitment ( Whyte and Whte, Thomas and Logan) -- both of which I would agree. However, both sources are now dated. Not that there is any major change. The impact of global comptetion has to be taken into account. I did some evaluation: _Candian Dimension_ "Is Industrial Democracy Feasible?" (March 1991). this was a conc condensation of an article I wrote fro _Worders' Coops_ arond the same time. To the best of my knowledge, the Mondragon co-ops are still operating successfully, though how close they have come to mimicking the private sectror, I don't know. The person who could perhaps best answer this question is David Ellerman. I don"t know if He is on line. One a more general plane, We did an evalution of the Mondragon model vis-a-vis the Yugoslav model in " _Ther Rise and Fall of the Third Way: Yugoslavia 1945:1991_ (Halifax, Frernwood, 1992). Paul Phillips
[PEN-L:5862] Re: query
On Fri, 14 Jul 1995, Teresa Amott wrote: The 1990 Census has detailed race data in the Social and Economic Characteristics: United States volunme (1990-CP-2-1). You can get occupational and industry data by gender and by race and ethnicity. I don't know how useful or accurate this information is, but apparently, 'Project Gutenberg' has U.S. census data online (etext ascii form) well back into the last century -- even into the 1600's. You can get to it by either ftp or www at Walnut Creek CDROM: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/gutenberg or http://www.cdrom.com/pub/gutenberg With a little searching you can find the files in directories just below 'gutenberg'. Be forewarned tho': They're BIG files... There's also price data over many years, I believe. No telling what gems there are there... The Walnut Creek site is also an _excellent_ source of other files... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Jim Jaszewski [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW homepage: http://www.freenet.hamilton.on.ca/~ab975/Profile.html -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
