IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ums/papers/2007-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Power, productivity and profits

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Skott

    (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

  • Frederick Guy

    (Birkbeck College)

Abstract

New information and communication technologies, we argue, have been 'power-biased': in many industries they have allowed firms to monitor workers more closely, thus reducing the power of these workers. An efficiency wage model shows that 'power-biased technical change' in this sense may generate rising inequality accompanied by an increase in both unemployment and work intensity. JEL Categories: J31, O33

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Skott & Frederick Guy, 2007. "Power, productivity and profits," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2007-02, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ums:papers:2007-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.umass.edu/economics/publications/2007-02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blanchard, Olivier & Wolfers, Justin, 2000. "The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 1-33, March.
    2. Donald Katzner & Peter Skott, 2001. "Economic explanation, ordinality and the adequacy of analytic specification," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 437-453.
    3. Francis Green & Steven McIntosh, 1998. "Union Power, Cost of Job Loss, and Workers' Effort," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(3), pages 363-383, April.
    4. Bowles, Samuel, 1985. "The Production Process in a Competitive Economy: Walrasian, Neo-Hobbesian, and Marxian Models," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 16-36, March.
    5. Peter Skott & Frederick Guy, 2005. "Power-Biased Technological Change and the Rise in Earnings Inequality," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2005-17, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    6. Gintis, Herbert & Ishikawa, Tsuneo, 1987. "Wages, work intensity, and unemployment," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 195-228, June.
    7. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 1990. "Contested Exchange: New Microfoundations for the Political Economy of Capitalism," Politics & Society, , vol. 18(2), pages 165-222, June.
    8. Peter Skott, 1992. "Imperfect Competition and the Theory of the Falling Rate of Profit," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 101-113, March.
    9. Alfred D. Chandler, 1969. "Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262530090, December.
    10. Green, Francis & McIntosh, Steven, 2001. "The intensification of work in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 291-308, May.
    11. Hall, Peter A. & Soskice, David (ed.), 2001. "Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199247752.
    12. Francis Green, 2002. "Why Has Work Effort Become More Intense?," Studies in Economics 0207, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    13. Matias Ramirez & Frederick Guy & David Beale, 2007. "Contested Resources: Unions, Employers, and the Adoption of New Work Practices in US and UK Telecommunications," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(3), pages 495-517, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Immigration & wages: more evidence
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2008-11-03 23:42:02
    2. Bonuses, power and inequality
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2009-02-08 17:15:00
    3. Economics as Feynman's onion
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2009-07-05 15:14:27
    4. The tendency for the rate of profit to rise
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2010-04-07 17:48:41
    5. Miliband on immigration
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2010-09-29 18:05:08
    6. Profits & top incomes
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2010-10-31 14:47:10
    7. Class matters
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2011-05-18 17:43:32
    8. Inequality & power
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2011-05-20 22:33:31
    9. Looks & earnings
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2011-05-16 20:23:21
    10. Monetizability
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2011-07-28 18:53:23
    11. Debuncification
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2012-12-28 20:35:29
    12. Why is the middle squeezed?
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2013-03-27 19:18:02
    13. Efficiency wages for MPs?
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2014-04-10 19:01:23
    14. Ideologue? Moi?
      by chris in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2015-12-09 20:09:53
    15. Bad arguments against Marxism
      by chris in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2016-05-23 17:57:55

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2016. "The Dynamics of Exploitation and Class in Accumulation Economies," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 242-290, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Skott & Frederick Guy, 2005. "Power-Biased Technological Change and the Rise in Earnings Inequality," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2005-17, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    2. Frederick Guy & Peter Skott, 2008. "Information and Communications Technologies, Coordination and Control, and the Distribution of Income," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 17(3-4), pages 71-92, September.
    3. Francis Green, 2000. "Why has Work Effort become more intense? Conjectures and Evidence about Effort-Biased Technical Change and other stories," Studies in Economics 0003, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    4. Vesna Stavrevska, 2011. "The efficiency wages perspective to wage rigidity in the open economy: a survey," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(3), pages 273-299, June.
    5. Francis Green, 2002. "Why Has Work Effort Become More Intense?," Studies in Economics 0207, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    6. Ronald Schettkat & Rongrong Sun, 2009. "Monetary policy and European unemployment," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 94-108, Spring.
    7. K Clark & M Tomlinson, 2001. "The Determinants of Work Effort: Evidence from the Employment in Britain Survey," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0113, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    8. Dragoș Adăscăliței & Jason Heyes & Pedro Mendonça, 2022. "The intensification of work in Europe: A multilevel analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 324-347, June.
    9. Spencer, David A, 2000. "The Demise of Radical Political Economics? An Essay on the Evolution of a Theory of Capitalist Production," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 24(5), pages 543-564, September.
    10. Alexandre Chirat & Ulysse Lojkine, 2024. "Three views on economic power," EconomiX Working Papers 2024-31, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    11. Lam, Alice, 2004. "Organizational Innovation," MPRA Paper 11539, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Eduardo Monte Jorge Hey Martins & Jaylson Jair da Silveira & Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2021. "Heterogeneity in the extraction of labor from labor power and persistence of wage inequality," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 260-285, May.
    13. Michael Bittman & Judith E. Brown & Judy Wajcman, 2009. "The mobile phone, perpetual contact and time pressure," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 23(4), pages 673-691, December.
    14. Antoine Valeyre, 2004. "Les nouvelles formes d'intensification du travail industriel : logiques technologiques, organisationnelles et économiques," Post-Print halshs-00822473, HAL.
    15. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 1993. "The Revenge of Homo Economicus: Contested Exchange and the Revival of Political Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 83-102, Winter.
    16. Gilbert L. Skillman, 2017. "Marx’s Capital through the lens of Roemer’s General Theory (and vice-versa)," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 49(3), pages 423-443, December.
    17. Eichhorst, Werner & Feil, Michael & Braun, Christoph, 2008. "What Have We Learned? Assessing Labor Market Institutions and Indicators," IZA Discussion Papers 3470, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Mason, Patrick L., 1993. "Variable labor effort, involuntary unemployment, and effective demand," MPRA Paper 11331, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. David Fairris, 2004. "Towards a Theory of Work Intensity," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 587-601, Fall.
    20. Rachel Griffith & Gareth Macartney, 2014. "Employment Protection Legislation, Multinational Firms, and Innovation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 135-150, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    power-biased technical change; efficiency wages; inequality; work intensity.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ums:papers:2007-02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Daniele Girardi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deumaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.