The Unraveling of the Union-Capital Truce and the U.S. Industrial Productivity Crisis

Abstract

This paper historically and econometrically explores the hypothesis that the productivity slowdown is in part due to the secular increase in industrial conflict, and that this increase derives from the unraveling of the postwar structure of union-management relations (or truce) and historically low unemployment. The empirical investigation of conflict outside the truce and secular productivity growth provides statistical evidence for this hypothesis.

The net social wage in different welfare regimes

“…The first figured prominently in the discussion regarding the causes of seriously diminished profitability of capital in the 1970s which ended the post-war boom of rapid capital accumulation and strong growth (Bowles and Gintis 1982a, 1982b; Glyn 1975; O’ Connor 1984; Shaikh and Tonak 1987; Tonak 1987). The second measure, the ‘cost of job loss’, defined as the percentage of current income or standard of living lost in the case of losing or quitting one’s job was supposed to play a major yet indirect role in affecting capital profitability and accumulation of capital by influencing directly labour intensity and productivity growth, strike activity, wage flexibility and ultimately output growth, distribution and crisis (Bowles et al 1986; Naples 1986; Schor and Bowles 1987; Weisskopf et al 1983). Here, we take into account both theoretical traditions mentioned above (radical and Marxist political economy and political sociology) and estimate the first distributional measure, that is, the net social wage for labour for a number of countries which may belong to possibly different welfare regimes.…”

The Economic Contributions of David M. Gordon

“…On the productivity question see Moseley (1 986) and Naples (1981Naples ( , 1986. For further work on the social structure of accumulation model see Kotz (1987Kotz ( , 1990.…”

"Théorie générale" et le keynésianisme

“…Ces économistes sont rassemblés autour de David M. Gordon, Samuel Bowles et Thomas E. Weisskopf. On peut aussi noter les travaux de Boddy et Crotty [1975], et M. Naples [1986]. L'impact des trois premiers nommés est assez important puisqu'ils utilisent les mêmes méthodes économétriques que leurs collègues néoclassiques, qu'ils proviennent des mêmes universités prestigieuses, et qu'ils publient parfois dans les revues scientifiques traditionnelles.…”