[PEN-L:1871] Re: marginalism uber alles

[knowware@xxxxxxxx (Tom Walker)]

Perhaps someone could explain to me what the following passage means from
the perspective of marginal utility:

"In short the argument that wages can be raised permanently by stinting
labour rest on the assumption that there is a permanent fixed work-fund,
i.e. a certain amount of work which has to be done, whatever the price of
labour. And for this assumption there is no foundation. On the contrary, the
demand for work comes from the national dividend; that is, it comes from
work. The less work there is of one kind, the less demand there is for work
of other kinds; and if labour were scarce, fewer enterprises would be
undertaken."

What is the relationship between "labour" and "work" in the above paragraph?
Does the term "work" have a consistent referent throughout the paragraph?


Tom Walker
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/