Re: [OPE] Invention, Inventors, and the Productivity of Labor

Paul C.: “The point I was making is that innovations are not necessarily going to be made by managers, and often are not. It may be appropriate to recognise that a particular invention was made a particular team of people and pay them a one off a bonus from the overall reduction in costs that the invention made possible, but that could be any team of workers, not just a group of managers.”   Managers are not who are going to make the inventions but they are certainly who are going to explore wisely the marketability of these inventions. Since we can not know ex-ante which goods are going to fit better consumers’ preferences (and I include here experiments that explore the potential acceptance of a good), socialists might not overcome this step in the way to the final allocation of resources.   Paying teams of people a one off a bonus from the overall reduction in costs that their inventions made possible is a policy that deserves to be explored. But what would happen with those units of production that performs worst in your model?   There is an additional step that a planned economy should explore to overcome the impossibility of dynamic efficiency. Besides the scale of the adoption of these bonuses, there must exist a mechanism that pushes these productive units out with some costs for their members.   Regards,A. Agafonow ________________________________ De: Paul Cockshott <wpc@dcs.gla.ac.uk> Para: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu> Enviado: martes, 4 de noviembre, 2008 11:39:31 Asunto: Re: [OPE] Invention, Inventors, and the Productivity of Labor Alejandro Agafonow wrote: > > Paul C.: "It also seems invidious to single out some employees as 'entrepreneurs'." > >  > We can’t escape a social division of labour. We are not yet in the position of synthesize goods at zero labour costs. > >  > The key rests in the access to the profession of managers under socialism. We can devise more transparent and less elitist paths. > >  > Regards, > > A. Agafonow The point I was making is that innovations are not necessarily going to be made by managers, and often are not. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *De:* Paul Cockshott <wpc@dcs.gla.ac.uk> > *Para:* wrighti@acm.org; Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu> > *Enviado:* martes, 4 de noviembre, 2008 10:21:52 > *Asunto:* Re: [OPE] Invention, Inventors, and the Productivity of Labor > > Ian Wright wrote: > > > If so, I worry about the social and political implications of this > > difference. I also think having two kinds of income is potentially > > redundant. Why not allow all workers in the firm decide, in a democratic > > manner, how the profit is distributed? Especially as the entrepreneurs > > are supplying labour, like everyone else. > > It also seems invidious to single out some employees as 'entrepreneurs'. It may be appropriate > to recognise that a particular invention was made a particular team of people and pay them a one off > a bonus from the overall reduction in costs that the invention made possible, but that could be > any team of workers, not just a group of managers. > _______________________________________________ > ope mailing list > ope@lists.csuchico.edu <mailto:ope@lists.csuchico.edu> > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > ope mailing list > ope@lists.csuchico.edu > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope >  _______________________________________________ ope mailing list ope@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope

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Received on Tue Nov 4 09:11:56 2008