Glass Ceiling Commission - The Impact of the Glass Ceiling and Structural Change on Minorities and Women

Glass Ceiling ReportGlassCeilingBackground12StructuralChange.pdf: 9391 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

The Non-existence of the Labor Demand/Supply Diagram, and Other Theorems of Institutional Economics

The most famous and influential diagram in modern (neoclassical) labor economics is the model of wage determination by supply and demand. Using concepts and ideas from institutional economics, I argue that the theory of a perfectly competitive labor market is logically contradictory and, hence, the demand/supply diagram cannot exist on the plane of pure theory. Four other fundamental theorems concerning labor markets are also derived, as are implications about the theoretical foundation of the field of industrial relations and the economic evaluation of labor and employment policy. In this article I accomplish four things of significance. The first is to demonstrate that the core diagram of neoclassical labor economics - the diagram of wage determination by demand and supply (D/S) - does not have logical coherence and thus has no existence on the plane of pure theory. The second is to deduce this conclusion using a core concept of institutional economics (i.e., transaction cost), thus demonstrating that the institutional approach to labor economics has theoretical explanatory power. The third is to use the transaction cost idea to also deduce four fundamental theorems concerning labor markets and wage determination. The fourth is to identify the core theoretical foundation of the field of industrial relations. This discussion also yields important implications for the economic evaluation of labor and employment policy, as well as interesting insights on the history of thought in labor economics. Working Paper 07-2

Institutionalist Perspectives on Immigration Policy: An Update

This paper provides an institutionalist analysis of the impasse over labor issues that has stalled much needed reform of U.S. immigration policy. While it is unlikely that institutional economics can dislodge a century of conventional wisdom regarding the impact of immigrants on the labor market, a more modest goal is to refute the mainstream economic assertion that what the United States needs to do is to reduce the supply of immigrants, a conclusion that fuels the disgraceful "war on immigrants" that has long plagued reasonable debate over immigration policy.immigration, immigration policy, institutionalism, labor economics,

Immigration as industrial strategy in American meatpacking

This paper examines the connections linking recent changes in Latino migration, the American meatpacking industry, and American immigration policy. As the meatpacking industry has vertically integrated and shifted to rural non-union areas throughout the South, it has grown increasingly dependent on short-term low-skilled employees. This process can be understood as the industrialization of meatpacking, where profitability depends on continuous high-throughput production. To succeed, the industrialization of meatpacking requires a large pool of easily replaceable labor that has no control over the pace work on of the shop floor. At the same time, as immigrants have been drawn to these new company towns, American immigration policy has turned increasingly towards border enforcement. We argue that the presence of illegal immigrants within the factories reduces the bargaining power of shop workers and increases employer control. Most studies of immigration have focused on the supply of migrant labor, the immigrants attracted to higher paying jobs. We argue that valuable insight is gained by looking at the manufacturers' demand for cheap labor and the implementation of an industrial strategy that requires it.

The Institutionalist Tradition in Labor Economics

Edited by Dell P. Champlin and Janet T. Knoedler.Includes a chapter by College at Brockport former faculty member J. Dennis Chasse: John R. Commons and his students : the view from the end of the twentieth century.Institutionalist labor economics was the dominant approach to labor in the United States until the 1960s, when mathematical and abstract approaches to economics became more influential. A primary aim of this book is to demonstrate the continuing vibrancy and relevance of the institutionalist approach to labor economics, which is concerned with the issues of income distribution and inequality, the power of vested interests, and economic justice. Early institutionalists include John R. Commons, John Maurice Clark, and Thorstein Veblen.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/bookshelf/1152/thumbnail.jp