Abstract
The high purpose of these sessions is symbolized by a passage from Michael Polanyi:
Science is not conducted by isolated efforts like those of the chess players or shellers of peas and could make no progress that way. If one day all communications were cut between scientists, that day science would practically come to a standstill. … The co-ordinative principle of science … consists in the adjustment of each scientist’s activities to the results hitherto achieved by others. In adjusting himself to the others each scientist acts independently, yet by virtue of these several adjustments scientists keep extending together with a maximum efficiency the achievements of science as a whole.1
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
For a discussion of the problems of dating periods, see Joseph A. Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis (1954), pp. 379–380.
See T. S. Ashton, The Industrial Revolution, 1760–1830 (1948); ‘Some Statistics of the Industrial Revolution in Britain’, Manchester School, May 1948; ‘The Standard of Life of Workers in England, 1790–1830’, Tasks of Economic History, supplement ix (1949);
Arthur D. Gayer, W. W. Rostow, Anna Jacobson Schwartz, The Growth and Fluctuation of the British Economy, 1790–1850 (1953), 2 vols., pp. 657–658. Also see I. A. Hayek (ed.), Capitalism and the Historians (1954).
See David Ricardo, Preface to Principles, Piero Sraffa, ed., The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo (1951), vol. i, p. xlviii.
See Lionel Robbins, The Theory of Economic Policy in English Classical Political Economy (1953).
See T. W. Hutchison, A Review of Economic Doctrines, 1870–1929 (1953), ch. 1;
Gustav Cassel, The Theory of Social Economy, translated by S. L. Barron (1932), pp. 298–370.
See George J. Stigler, Production and Distribution Theories (1941), and T. W. Hutchison, Economic Doctrines.
See, for example, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, ‘Macht oder ökonömisches Gesetz’, Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft, Sozialpolitik und Verwaltung (December 1914), pp. 205–271, translated by J. R. Mez (1931), mimeographed;
A. C. Pigou, Principles and Methods of Industrial Peace (1905);
Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry (1893), pp. 374–411. This last chapter is an analysis of ‘Trade Unions’.
See Paul A. Samuelson, Foundations of Economic Analysis (1947), pp. 57–89.
Dennis H. Robertson, ‘Wage Grumbles’, reprinted in Readings in the Theory of Income Distribution (1946), pp. 221–236.
See Lloyd G. Reynolds, ‘Economics of Labor’, A Survey of Contemporary Economics, Howard S. Ellis, ed. (1948), pp. 255–287.
See National Planning Association, Fundamentals of Labor Peace, A Final Report (December 1953);
Allan Flanders and H. A. Clegg, editors, The System of Industrial Relaiions in Great Britain (1954).
See Gladys L. Palmer, Labor Mobility in Six Cities: A Report on the Survey of Patterns and Factors in Labor Mobility, 1940–1950 (1954).
See Leo Wolman, ‘Wages in the United States since 1914’, Industrial Relations Research Association, Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting (December 28–30, 1953), pp. 40–46.
See, for example, the reception and reviews of The Impact of the Union, David McCord Wright, ed. (1951).
Consider one illustration. ‘The strong pressure of unions for higher wages, however, has undoubtedly helped to raise the standard of living because this pressure has forced management to work harder to keep down labor costs and has thereby accelerated technological progress. ‘— Sumner H. Slichter, What’s Ahead for American Business (1951), p. 13.
Compare this statement with a long chain of precedents: J. W. F. Rowe, Wages in Practice and Theory (1928), pp. 215–225;
H. L. Moore, Laws of Wages, An Essay in Statistical Economics (1911), p. 189.
The history of this idea is interrelated with the effects of a wage change on the efficiency of labour. Refer to Alfred Marshall, Elements of Economics of Industry (1893), pp. 408–410;
Francis A. Walker, The Wages Question (1886), pp. 387–388, and many earlier writers.
See Arthur M. Ross, Trade Union Wage Policy (1948).
For an imaginative discussion on the concept of labour market, see Clark Kerr, ‘The Balkanization of Labor Markets’, Labor Mobility and Economic Opportunity (1954), pp. 92–110. The present discussion would add to that of Professor Kerr the emphasis that the scope of product markets is reflected back into the labour market defining the scope of wage setting.
See John T. Dunlop and Melvin Rothbaum, ‘International Comparisons of Wage Structures’, International Labour Review (April 1955).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 1957 International Economic Association
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dunlop, J.T. (1957). The Task of Contemporary Wage Theory. In: Dunlop, J.T. (eds) The Theory of Wage Determination. International Economic Association Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15205-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15205-6_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-15207-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-15205-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)