[PEN-L:1734] Re: Minimum wages in real terms

[dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx (Doug Henwood)]

Patrick Mason presented a nice formal analysis of the minimum wage debate -
ending in not a crass but a deserved self-promotion - but didn't answer the
question - is it true for the US?

At 3:46 PM 12/5/95, Patrick L. Mason wrote:

[all that damn arithmetic omitted]

>So, both Zaremka and Henvood have partially correct. The tremendous rise in
>productivity does create room for a rise in the minimum wage. But, the increase
>in productivity may have occurred with an even greater increase in capital
>intensity.
>In which case, there are definitely limits to the increase in any particular
>capital's
>wage rate before profitability is threatened.

I thought US TFP figures showed a tremendous boom in the productivity of K
over the last 10-15 years (which Michael Jensen claims is the result of the
liquid market in corporate control). Do I remember this wrong, and can you
believe the TFP numbers anyway?

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
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