Lump of Labor fallacy; May Day

[Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom,

I know it has taken me years to understand it, but does celebrating May Day
sort of imply indulging in the lump of labor fallacy ? Same with Marx in his
chapter supporting the struggle for a shorter work day ?

Charles


Also regarding the dissemination of "scientific legends" (see Mozart
Effect), one of my spotters sent me the following boilerplate from
yesterday's (June 15, 2005) National Post (Canada):

"The Prince Charles Fallacy is more often known as the "lump of labour
fallacy," that there are just so many jobs to go round, so one person's job
gain is inevitably another's job loss. The same form of primitive zero-sum
thinking leads trade unionists to laud restrictions on both the work week
and overtime because such restrictions will allegedly lead to more jobs.
France's disastrous experience with the 35-hour work week has been the most
recent demonstration of the flaws in such arguments."