From: michael a. lebowitz (mlebowit@SFU.CA)
Date: Tue Jan 06 2004 - 14:17:34 EST
At 16:28 02/01/2004, Ian wrote:
>Hello Michael,
>
>Thanks for taking an interest.
>
>>I don't understand how income distribution can be separated from
>>class struggle. Is the suggestion that workers' wages are independent of
>>their struggles (eg., the formation of trade unions)? What exactly do you
>>mean by 'the objective relations of production' that generate income
>>distribution?
>
>Empirically, in advanced capitalist countries, there are universal
>functional
>forms that describe income distribution of individuals. For example, the
>distribution
>of the majority of incomes is well described by an exponential or lognormal
>distribution, whereas the higher property-incomes are characterised
>by a Pareto (power) law. These features are common across countries and
>across time.
>
>These functional forms are not the result of class struggle, but are
>unintended
>consequences of the social relations of production, that is capitalists that
>pay
>wages and earn profits, and workers that perform work and earn wages,
>coupled
Very interesting, Ian. But, the data that you begin with is data that is
itself affected by class struggle. Do you begin by laundering the data to
remove any effect of class struggle? (If so, what variables are you using
to transform this data?) If not, how can you say that the functional forms
that are describing income distribution are not the result of class struggle?
in solidarity,
michael
---------------------
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Office Fax: (604) 291-5944
Home: Phone (604) 689-9510
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