---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 14:46:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Duncan K Foley <dkf2@columbia.edu>
To: glevy@acnet.pratt.edu
Subject: Re: My "2 cents" -- Jerry
On Mon, 9 Oct 1995 glevy@acnet.pratt.edu wrote:
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sun, 8 Oct 1995 21:31:28 -0700
> From: glevy@acnet.pratt.edu
> To: Multiple recipients of list <ope-l@anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu>
> Subject: [OPE-L:221] Re: Duncan Foley/ wages
>
> Duncan Foley asked:
> "I'd like to know from a Marxist/Classical point of view why the real
> wage in capitalist economies tends to rise roughly at the same rate as
> the productivity of labor, so that the labor share remains roughly constant."
>
> A few points:
>
> 1. This is clearly a digression for us, but since others have had
> something to say, I'll add my "2 cents" as well.
>
> 2. First, one must ask empirically whether this has been the case. Even
> if one can demonstrate that it has been, that doesn't indicate the cause
> or causes.
>
> 3. I don't think I like the idea of conflating the "Classical" view with
> the Marxist view on this, or other, questions. There are far more issues
> involved than labor's "share."
>
> 4. So, how would one go about answering such a question?
>
> One might ask initially: what are the factors that determine changes in
> *both* nominal and real wages?
>
> Some factors might include:
>
> -- the reproduction costs of labor power and how those costs change
> historically;
>
> -- the changing structure of needs on the part of workers as consumers;
>
> -- changing skill and educational levels of workers;
>
> -- changes in the bargaining power of workers as a consequence of
> unionization;
>
> -- the pattern of labor-management cooperation which has frequently tied
> wage increases to productivity increases (as in the Annual Improvement
> Factor in auto contracts in the US) in the post-WW2 period (the so-called
> "labor accord").
>
> -- the changing gender and racial composition of the workforce;
>
> -- the process of inflation;
>
> -- the role of the state in mediating labor-management relations and the
> increase in state employment;
>
> -- the affect of international trade and transnational corporations on
> wage levels in the advanced capitalist nations;
>
> -- the relation of international transfers of surplus value on the
> prospect for wage changes;
>
> -- the affect of changing levels of the industrial reserve army and
> cyclical changes in the economy, including the possibility of "long waves."
>
> -- in Western Europe, the political clout of Social Democratic Parties
> and/or the militancy of trade unions and working class political
> organizations might be factors as well.
>
> I'm sure that I must have left out some factors above. In any event,
> Duncan raised an essentially concrete question that can not be answered
> simply. Doesn't one have to go about answering such a question in stages
> through a consideration of all of the processes, theoretical and
> historical, that enter into the determination of these events?
>
>
> In OPE-L Solidarity,
>
> Jerry
I think all of your points have something to be said for them. They are
at quite different levels of abstraction, however. I suppose what is
puzzling me is where to locate this phenomenon in the levels of
abstraction. Is it inherent in capital accumulation or just an accident
of history?
I guess the responses to my question have persuaded me to try out the
newsgroup when you get it started.
Duncan Foley
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