From: Ian Wright (ian_paul_wright@HOTMAIL.COM)
Date: Thu Dec 11 2003 - 12:45:59 EST
Hello Jerry, Just a half penny on your exchanges with Paul: I can't imagine a capitalist economy would work if the wage share were either 0% or 100% of national income. A question then arises whether there is a natural equilibrium ratio of shares that the system is attracted toward, absent the class stuggle. If so, that might explain why abnormally high wage or profit shares are eventually corrected, whatever the subjective intentions of the political representatives of the various classes. If the shares in national income are determined only by the class struggle, then presumably the shares can be ratcheted up (resp. down) over time, leading to a gradual improvement (resp. worsening) in the wage share. But I suspect that this is not possible. It reminds me of the UK chancellor Gordon Brown's recent complaints about the need to reduce social inequality -- forgetting that a market exchange economy necessarily leads to a functional form of the income distribution that is highly unequal. It's possible to intervene to reduce social inequality, but the dynamics systematically undermine such attempts. My point is, I think, that it is ok to abstract from the class struggle when trying to understand some dynamics because that may reveal what is being struggled against. -Ian. >From: gerald_a_levy <gerald_a_levy@MSN.COM> >Reply-To: OPE-L <OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU> >To: OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU >Subject: [OPE-L] (OPE-L) 'Labor Market Dynamics Within Rival Macroeconomic >Frameworks' >Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:42:30 -0500 > >Paolo: thanks for the reference. Others can download Anwar's >(2002) paper on "Labor Market Dynamics Within Rival >Macroeconomic Frameworks" at: >http://homepage.newschool.edu/~AShaikh/papers.html > >Perhaps the conclusion about the (non-) role of class struggle >in altering the wage-profit share within these perspectives >reveals also the *limitations of growth theory* ... including non- >linear growth theory ... and determinant mathematical models >in theorizing capitalist dynamics. > >In solidarity, Jerry > > The site you sent has a link to Anwar home page. There you can find a >paper on labor market dynamics where he examones four diferent approaches: >neoclasscal, keynesian, Harrod, and Goodwin-Marx. His conclusion is that in >none of them labor strenght has any effect on wage share. It is a rather >provocative finding. Since this is related to the thread on wage share I >think it could be useful for those who have not read it yet. _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
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