From: Paul Cockshott (clyder@GN.APC.ORG)
Date: Sat Mar 27 2004 - 16:31:07 EST
Depends on the particular product. I illustrate my argument initially with the Roman Samian ware industry which introduced industrialised mass production of consumer goods thanks to adopting moulding technology for ceramics rather than turning them on a wheel. In that case the measure of productivity would be plates produced per worker. The modern world is dominated by copying technology. The improvement in the productivity of the semiconductor industry which has allowed continual exponential growth in production at a rate of around 40% per annum is all based on the perfection of copying technology. In this case the productivity would be measured in terms of transistors produced per labour hour. On Fri, 2004-03-26 at 00:28, Gerald A. Levy wrote: > Hi Paul C. > > > I found the part of the article emphasising Babbages chapter > > 'On Copying' particularly significant. I had not read that chapter > > and I myself consider that copying techniques - casting, printing, > > photography and photo-derived technologies are probably the > > most significant ways in which labour productivity has historically > > increased. > > In coming to this conclusion, how are you measuring labour > productivity? > > In solidarity, Jerry >
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