From: Gerald A. Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Tue Oct 19 2004 - 08:24:35 EDT
Ian W, In response to my comment that we should not expect a long- term "relative stability in wage disparities" you wrote "But I do not expect that, and did not state that." In the very next sentence you wrote: "... we should expect wage disparities to be invariant in a market economy ...." You wrote: "There is nothing here about a long-term trend to narrow the wage dispersion, or stability of wage disparities." There is a claim, though, that "we should expect wage disparities to be invariant." Please excuse me for thinking that the claim that "we should expect wage disparities to be invariant" was synonymous with a claim that, "while wage dispersion will wax and wane", there would be a long-term trend towards wage stability. You wrote that "the exponential distribution is a reasonable fit for 90-95% for the income of all groups in industrialised countries over a period of several decades." Yet, you have not confronted the empirical evidence cited in the Arrighi article which suggests that what you call "the usual functional forms" might not have held during the time period that you were referring to. You write that "This empirical data is worth a thousand words, whereas I am sceptical of anecdotes about the labour market." Yet, surely, in a thousand words, shouldn't a significant percentage of that magnitude be devoted to a discussion of the limitations and inadequacy of the data? Without such a critical evaluation any claims about what are or are not "the usual functional forms" have to be taken with a grain of salt. I have expended a fair amount of time and energy over the last few weeks trying to comprehend and critically discuss your perspective. If I have failed to adequately understand that perspective, then perhaps part of the problem might be an inability on my part to grasp what you were claiming _and_ an inability on your part to effectively and unambiguously communicate your perspective. In solidarity, Jerry
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