Re: (OPE-L) Re: Babbage and Marx

[Paul Cockshott <clyder@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Depends on the particular product. I illustrate my argument
initially with the Roman Samian ware industry which introduced
industrialised mass production of consumer goods thanks
to adopting moulding technology for ceramics rather than
turning them on a wheel.

In that case the measure of productivity would be
plates produced per worker.

The modern world is dominated by copying technology.
The improvement in the productivity of the semiconductor
industry which has allowed continual exponential growth
in production at a rate of around 40% per annum is all
based on the perfection of copying technology. In this
case the productivity would be measured in terms of
transistors produced per labour hour.

On Fri, 2004-03-26 at 00:28, Gerald A. Levy wrote:
> Hi Paul C.
>
> > I found the part of the article emphasising Babbages chapter
> > 'On Copying' particularly significant. I had not read that chapter
> > and I myself consider that copying techniques - casting, printing,
> > photography and photo-derived technologies are probably the
> > most significant ways in which labour productivity has historically
> > increased.
>
> In coming to this conclusion, how are you measuring labour
> productivity?
>
> In solidarity, Jerry
>