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Cipolla wrote in [2396]
>
>
>Caro Ernesto
>>From the point of view of the analitical distinction labor of
coordination/labor
>of control, and inasmuch as this distiction pertains to the analysis of
the labor
>process, does it make any difference who is executing it, except for the
fact that
>in the case of the working capitalist the whole profit of enterprise will
"appear"
>as the wage of management?
You are right: it makes no difference. And indeed, the working capitalist's
profit appears as a wage for superintendance.
>There was "team production" in Marx's analysis. Moreover: there was even an
>analysis of how much collective work enhanced individual productivity
(positive
>emulation). It would be interesting to discuss whether or not the "team
>production" you are refering to is something different or whether we are
again
>facing the well known "phenomena" of shedding theories on the basis of the
same
>facts.
As I understand him, Marx has a notion of team production similar to the
modern one, indeed he seems to anticipate Alchian and Demsetz! For instance
he defines "mass force" (massenkraft) (I did not find a correct translation
of this notion in the Penguin edition of Capital), as a work activity
whereby the product of a group of workers is the result of their collective
effort that cannot be reduced to the summation of their individual forces.
Marx however does not deduce all the economic implications of this notion,
for instance in terms of information asymmetries and the consequent meaning
of the supervision work.
Of course we cannot pretend he knew all this.
>Finally, Marx omniscience is neither an issue nor an argument. In fact, it
seems
>to me that since he was laying the "basis" for an understanding of the
capitalist
>system basic concepts should be retained in face of circunstancial and
historical
>change.
OK.
In solidarity
Ernesto
Ernesto Screpanti
Dipartimento di Economia Politica
Piazza S. Francesco 1
53100 Siena
tel: 0577 232784
fax: 0577 232661
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