DOCSLIB.ORG

Religious Reflection on the Rise of Economic Inequality

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Religious Reflection on the Rise of Economic Inequality Growing Apart Religious Reflection on the Rise of Economic Inequality Edited by Kate Ward and Kenneth Himes Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Religions www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Growing Apart Growing Apart Religious Reflection on the Rise of Economic Inequality Special Issue Editors Kate Ward Kenneth Himes MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade Special Issue Editors Kate Ward Kenneth Himes Marquette University Boston College USA USA Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Religions (ISSN 2077-1444) in 2017 (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special issues/ economic inequality) For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-03842-577-9 (Pbk) ISBN 978-3-03842-578-6 (PDF) c 2019 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. Contents About the Special Issue Editors ..................................... vii Kenneth Himes and Kate Ward Introduction to This Issue Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 58, doi:10.3390/rel8040058 ..................... 1 Victor Tan Chen An Economy of Grace Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 43, doi:10.3390/rel8030043 ..................... 4 Tiziana C. Dearing Social Services, Social Justice, and Social Innovations: Lessons for Addressing Income Inequality Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 89, doi:10.3390/rel8050089 ..................... 17 Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry E. Brady and Sidney Verba Growing Economic Inequality and Its (Partially) Political Roots Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 97, doi:10.3390/rel8050097 ..................... 31 Mary E. Walsh and Maria D. Theodorakakis The Impact of Economic Inequality on Children’s Development and Achievement Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 67, doi:10.3390/rel8040067 ..................... 48 Joseph F. Quinn and Kevin E. Cahill The Relative Effectiveness of the Minimum Wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit as Anti-Poverty Tools Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 69, doi:10.3390/rel8040069 ..................... 60 Frank J. Garcia Globalization, Inequality & International Economic Law Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 78, doi:10.3390/rel8050078 ..................... 77 Micah Lott The System Isn’t Broken. It’s Fixed Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 57, doi:10.3390/rel8040057 ..................... 89 Dustin Crummett Wealth, Well-Being, and the Danger of Having Too Much Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 86, doi:10.3390/rel8050086 ..................... 95 Stephen Leccese Economic Inequality and the New School of American Economics Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 99, doi:10.3390/rel8060099 .....................118 Kenneth Himes Catholic Social Teaching on Building a Just Society: The Need for a Ceiling and a Floor Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 49, doi:10.3390/rel8040049 .....................129 Joyce Ann Konigsburg The Economic and Ethical Implications of Living Wages Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 74, doi:10.3390/rel8040074 .....................140 v Kate Ward Jesuit and Feminist Hospitality: Pope Francis’ Virtue Response to Inequality Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 71, doi:10.3390/rel8040071 .....................148 James P. O’Sullivan Twenty First Century Global Goal-Setting Addressing Global Inequality: An Interdisciplinary Ethical Analysis Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 48, doi:10.3390/rel8040048 .....................159 Shaji George Kochuthara Economic Inequality: An Ethical Response Reprinted from: Religions 2017, 8, 141, doi:10.3390/rel8080141 ....................169 vi AbouttheSpecialIssueEditors KateWardisAssistantProfessorofTheologicalEthicsatMarquetteUniversity.Herresearchfocuses oneconomicethics,virtueethics,andethicalmethod. Shehaspublishedarticlesonwealth,virtue, and economic inequality in journals including Theological Studies, Journal of Religious Ethics, Heythrop Journal, and Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics (forthcoming). She is completing a monograph exploring the impact of wealth, poverty and inequality on the pursuit of virtue. Dr.Ward holds a Ph.D. in Christian ethics from Boston College, an M.Div. with concentration in Bible from Catholic Theological Union, and an A.B. in psychology with honors from Harvard College. She and her husband, Matthew Filipowicz, live in the Riverwest neighborhood inMilwaukee. Kenneth Himes, OFM (Ph.D., Duke University; M.A., Washington Theological Union; A.B., SienaCollege)isProfessorofChristianEthicsatBostonCollege. Hisresearchandwritingfocuson ethicalissuesinwarandpeacebuilding,thedevelopmentofCatholicsocialteaching,andtheroleof religioninAmericanpubliclife,aswellasfundamentalmoraltheology. Dr. Himesistheauthorof Targeted Killing and the Ethics of Drone Warfare (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016); Christianity and thePoliticalOrder: Conflict,Cooptation,andCooperation(Orbis,2013);Responsesto101Questions on Catholic Social Teaching (Paulist, 2013; first published 2001; Polish edition published in 2005; Indian edition published 2008); and Fullness of Faith: The Public Significance of Theology (Paulist,1993;co-authored with Michael J. Himes; Chinese edition published in 2014.) The second editionofhishighlyregardededitedvolume,ModernCatholicSocialTeaching: Commentariesand Interpretations,was published in 2017 by Georgetown University Press. vii religions Editorial Introduction to This Issue Kenneth Himes 1,* and Kate Ward 2 1 Theology Department, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA 2 Theology Department, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Academic Editor: Philip Goodchild Received: 27 March 2017; Accepted: 4 April 2017; Published: 6 April 2017 Only a few decades ago, the neoconservative writer Irving Kristol could dismiss economic inequality as a social problem (Kristol 1980). To his mind, there was little empirical evidence demonstrating that inequality was a significant issue. Today, we have a substantial amount of empirical data that reveals economic inequality as an important element in a number of realms—politics, education, health, social cohesion, and law, not to mention ethical concerns about solidarity, the common good, and human dignity. In short, economic inequality matters. With that in mind, the Jesuit Institute at Boston College funded a year-long faculty seminar that would examine economic inequality from a variety of academic perspectives. The seminar began in the fall of 2015 and concluded in the spring of 2016. Throughout that period, a group of faculty representing various schools and departments within the university met regularly to read how different academic disciplines looked at economic inequality and discuss the insights that one discipline’s perspective might enrich another’s way of studying inequality.1 The faculty seminar at Boston College led to the decision to host a conference that would present some of the work done by the seminar members. Further, it was decided to invite student papers on the topic as well. In April of 2016 the two-day conference, “Growing Apart: the rise of inequality” “was held on the Boston College campus. In addition to concurrent sessions in which the seminar faculty and student presenters gave papers, there were plenary sessions with invited scholars. Many of the papers presented over the course of those two days have been revised and are published in this issue of Religions. The Interdisciplinary nature of the seminar and conference explains the presence of authors and topics that may not ordinarily appear in a journal such as Religions. Although the guest editors of this issue are both trained in Christian ethics and a number of the other papers included here are by theologians based in the academy, we felt it important to include several papers that illustrate how scholars in economics, law, sociology, education, political science, philosophy, and social work address the topic of economic inequality. While each of these scholars used methods and resources specific to their fields, the conference was open to the general public and so speakers aimed their papers at a general audience that allowed non-specialists to benefit. In revising the conference papers for publication in this issue, the editors asked all the authors to keep in mind that readers of Religions may be well read in other academic fields but expertise is generally located in areas of theology, religious studies, and textual criticism. We believe the essays presented in part one of this issue provide helpful and wise insights from a diverse set of perspectives that can assist those who approach economic inequality from the vantage points of theology and religious studies. 1 The seminar members were well aware that there are different ways to speak about economic inequality, including but not limited to inequality of wealth, income, and life outcome. Since all these measures were deemed relevant to our shared concerns,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hoshi Pharmaceuticals in the Interwar Years Timothy M. Yang Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of Th
    Market, Medicine, and Empire: Hoshi Pharmaceuticals in the Interwar Years Timothy M. Yang Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 Timothy M. Yang All rights reserved ABSTRACT Market, Medicine, and Empire: Hoshi Pharmaceuticals in the Interwar Years Timothy M. Yang This dissertation examines the connections between global capitalism, modern medicine, and empire through a close study of Hoshi Pharmaceuticals during the interwar years. As one of the leading drug companies in East Asia at the time, Hoshi embodied Japan's imperial aspirations, rapid industrial development, and burgeoning consumer culture. The company attempted to control every part of its supply and distribution chain: it managed plantations in the mountains of Taiwan and Peru for growing coca and cinchona (the raw material for quinine) and contracted Turkish poppy farmers to supply raw opium for government-owned refineries in Taiwan. Hoshi also helped shape modern consumer culture in Japan and its colonies, and indeed, became an emblem for it. At its peak in the early 1920s, Hoshi had a network of chain stores across Asia that sold Hoshi-brand patent medicines, hygiene products, and household goods. In 1925, however, the company's fortunes turned for the worse when an opium trading violation raised suspicions of Hoshi as a front for the smuggling of narcotics through Manchuria and China. Although the company was a key supplier of medicines to Japan's military during World War Two, it could not financially recover from the fallout of the opium scandal.
    [Show full text]
  • The Last Tax: Henry George and the Social Politics of Land Reform in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
    The Last Tax: Henry George and the Social Politics of Land Reform in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Department of History Michael Willrich, Advisor In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By Alexandra Wagner Lough August 2013 This dissertation, directed and approved by Alexandra Wagner Lough’s Committee, has been accepted and approved by the Faculty of Brandeis University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Malcolm Watson, Dean Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Committee: Michael Willrich, Department of History Mark Hulliung, Department of History Daniel T. Rodgers, Department of History, Princeton University Copyright 2013 Alexandra Wagner Lough Doctor of Philosophy Acknowledgments This project properly began in 2004 when I was an undergraduate at the University of Pacific in Stockton, California and decided to write a history thesis on Henry George. As such, it seems fitting to begin by thanking my two favorite professors at Pacific, Caroline Cox and Robert Benedetti. Their work inspired my own and their encouragement and advice led me to pursue graduate work in history at Brandeis University. I am forever grateful for their support. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been admitted into the Ph.D. program in American History at Brandeis. Not only have I received top-notch instruction from brilliant faculty, but I also have received generous funding. I want to extend my gratitude to Rose and Irving Crown and the Crown family for the fellowship that financed my graduate education.
    [Show full text]
  • Antitrust: Discussion of Ideas Among Legislators and Who Has to Follow the Law
    1 ANTITRUST: DISCUSSION OF IDEAS AMONG LEGISLATORS AND WHO HAS TO FOLLOW THE LAW XVIe colloque Charles Gide. 14-16 abril 2016 Strasbourg, France Author: Ana Rosado. Complutense University of Madrid, Spain [email protected] Abstract The internalization of market transactions was the strategy of the majority of American companies at the end of the nineteenth century in order to increase the productivity and to reduce costs. Until 1880 the biggest American firms internalized suppliers and since 1890 included distribution, at the same time, the entrepreneurs amassed impressive fortunes. As a result the problem of trust became a moral issue, supported by the fact that society wealth has been transferred from customers to richest men. In this context a few debates took place among the American economists: first, a theoretical debate referred to prevention of monopolization of industry; second debate about the convenience of reform of the institutions and the origins of the FTC, and finally the control of economy by states. In this paper we tried to shade light about the economic arguments for and against to restrain the power of big American companies. Keywords: Antitrust, American History of Economic Thought, Markets Imperfections, Competition and Law. JEL code: B-21; K-21; D-43 2 I. INTRODUCTION At the end of the XIX century American firms shaped their structure into multidivisional companies and some of them became trusts. Many authors began to be worried about the size that these companies had reached; one of these authors was John Bates Clark. Indeed, he gave his name to the prelude price for the Nobel Prize for Economics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Morality of Money: American Attitudes Toward Wealth and the Income Tax
    Indiana Law Journal Volume 70 Issue 1 Article 5 Winter 1994 The Morality Of Money: American Attitudes Toward Wealth and the Income Tax Marjorie E. Kornhauser Tulane Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj Part of the Taxation-Federal Commons, and the Tax Law Commons Recommended Citation Kornhauser, Marjorie E. (1994) "The Morality Of Money: American Attitudes Toward Wealth and the Income Tax," Indiana Law Journal: Vol. 70 : Iss. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol70/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Indiana Law Journal by an authorized editor of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Morality Of Money: American Attitudes Toward Wealth and the Income Taxt MARJORIE E. KORNHAUSER* Wealth fascinates Americans. Alexis de Tocqueville said in 1835: "'The love of wealth is... at the bottom of all that the Americans do. "" In reality, American feelings about wealth are much more complex and ambiguous than Tocqueville claims. Americans fear and disdain wealth as well as love it.' We differentiate types of money and wealth, despite the economists' claims that all money is fungible. In particular, Americans imbue earned income with an aura of morality and virtuousness that unearned income, particularly inherited income, does not have.' Consequently, we Americans admire the person who acquires her wealth by means of her own talent and industry, while at the t Q 1993 by Marjorie E.
    [Show full text]
  • Antitrust in the Formative Era: Political and Economic Theory in Constitutional and Antitrust Analysis, 1880-1918*
    Antitrust in the Formative Era: Political and Economic Theory in Constitutional and Antitrust Analysis, 1880-1918* JAMES MAy** TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................... 258 II. THE CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT OF FEDERAL AND STATE ANTITRUST ANALYSIS: LAISSEZ-FAIRE CONSTITUTIONALISM AND CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC THEORY ..................................................... 262 A. State Power and PrivateRight in Contemporary Constitutional Adjudication ....................................................... 262 B. Political and Economic Perspective in Contemporary Jurisprudence ..................................................... 269 1. The Interrelationof Political and Economic Theory .......... 269 2. The Natural Laws and Just Harmonies of Classical Economics .................................................... 270 3. Security, Freedom, and State Power in Political Liberalism and Classical Economics ..................................... 275 4. Laissez-FaireConstitutionalism and Political, Moral, and Economic Theory ............................................. 277 C. TraditionalTheory and New Realities in Progressive Era Am erica ........................................................... 281 D. The Economic and Intellectual Origins of Early Antitrust Law .... 283 II. THE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL ANTITRUST LAWS AND THE CURRENT DEBATE OVER CONGRESSIONAL GOALS ......................... 288 IV. JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION OF THE SHERMAN ACT ......................... 300 V. STATE JURISPRUDENCE
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter XVI. Clubs, Lodges, Social and Other Organizations
    CHAPTER XVI CLUBS, LODGES, SOCIAL AND OTHER ORGANIZATION S Y. M. C . A ., Boys ' Club, Home for Aged People and Similar Institutions . Quequechan Club , and Masonic and Other Lodges. The Militia . Labor Union s and Labor Troubles The leading club in the city is the Queque - in 1868, with George B . Durfee president . chan, which has a large and comfortabl e He was succeeded by E . C . Nason in 1870 , house on North Main street, where nearl y Leroy Sargent in 1873, Ray G . Ruling and all the distinguished visitors to the city J. H . Pierce. The work was discontinue d have been entertained in recent years . Amon g in 1880 . these have been the Honourable Artil- The present association was formed eight lery Company, of London, when it was th e years later, in 1888, with James F . Jackso n guest of the Ancient and Honorable Artil- president, Andrew J . Jennings vice-presi- lery Company of Boston ; the delegations o f dent, W. Frank Shove recording secretary, prominent Filipinos who visited the Unite d and Enoch J . French treasurer . Mr . Jack- States as the guests of the nation, and Gov- son was succeeded in 1891 by Rev . Percy S . ernors and other high dignitaries . The Grant, who held office till the fall of 1893 , club was formed in 1893 in part as a succes- when he resigned to remove to New York . sor of the old Commercial Club, with 2 5 A movement to raise funds for a buildin g charter members, of whom William F . was started at this time, and about $19,00 0 Hooper, James E .
    [Show full text]
  • Notice Concerning Copyright Restrictions
    Processed by Minitex on: 8/28/2020 8:42:15 AM This material comes to you from the University of Minnesota collection or another participating library of the Minitex Library Information Network. Patrons: please contact your library for help accessing this document. Library staff: for issues or assistance with this document, please email: [email protected] and provide the following information: Article ID: XOJ 01MNPALSMTR0007335 Patron email address ____________________________________________________________________________________ Title: Labor history. ArticleTitle: Inventing the "American standard of living": Gender, race and working-class identity, 1880-1925 ArticleAuthor: Lawrence Glickman Vol: 34 No: 2-3 Date: 2007 Pages: 221-? OCLC - 49560241; ISSN - 0023656X; LCN - 2002238317; Publisher: [London] : 2007 Source: ProQ:abiglobal Copyright: CCL ____________________________________________________________________________________ NOTICE CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States [Title 17, United StatesCode] governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright
    [Show full text]
  • Lester F. Ward: Applied Sociology (1906)
    Lester F. Ward: Applied Sociology (1906) [i] APPLIED SOCIOLOGY A TREATISE ON THE CONSCIOUS IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY BY SOCIETY BY LESTER F. WARD L’application est la pierre de touche de Toute doctrine. – ADOLPHE COSTE Seite 2 von 408 Lester F. Ward: Applied Sociology (1906) [ii] COPYRIGHT, 1906 BY LESTER F. WARD ________ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED GINN & COMPANY Boston – New York – Chicago – London 1906 Seite 3 von 408 Lester F. Ward: Applied Sociology (1906) [iii] PREFACE This work and its predecessor, Pure Sociology, constitute together a system of sociology, and these, with Dynamic Sociology, The Psychic Factors of Civilization, and the Outlines of Sociology, make up a more comprehensive system of social philosophy. Should any reader acquaint himself with the whole, he will find it not only consistent with itself, but progressive in the sense that each successive volume carries the subject a step farther with a minimum of repetition or duplicate treatment. The central thought is that of a true science of society, capable, in the measure that it approaches completeness, of being turned to the profit of mankind. If there is one respect in which it differs more than in others from rival systems of philosophy it is in its practical character of never losing sight of the end or purpose, nor of the possibilities of conscious effort. It is a reaction against the philosophy of despair that has come to dominate even the most enlightened scientific thought. It aims to point out a remedy for the general paralysis that is creeping over the world, and which a too narrow conception of the law of cosmic evolution serves rather to increase than to diminish.
    [Show full text]
  • The Progressive Era Th E Mises Institute Dedicates This Volume to All of Its Generous Supporters and Wishes to Thank These, in Particular
    The Progressive Era Th e Mises Institute dedicates this volume to all of its generous Supporters and wishes to thank these, in particular: Benefactors Susan B. McNiel, Mr. and Mrs. Donald M. Rembert, Sr., Steven R. Berger Mr. and Mrs. Gary J. Turpanjian, Juliana and Hunter Hastings Ryan Schmitt in Memory of William Norman Grigg Yousif Almoayyed and Budoor Kazim Patrons Anonymous, Behfar and Peiying Bastani in honor of those known and unknown who fi ght for liberty, Wayne Chapeskie, Carl S. Creager Th omas and Lisa Dierl, Reza Ektefaie, Willard and Donna Fischer Kevin R. Griffi n, Jeff and Jamie Haenggi, Jule R. Herbert, Jr. Albert L. Hillman, Jr., Hunter Lewis and Elizabeth Sidamon-Eristoff Arnold Lisio, MD in Memory of Margit von Mises, Arthur L. Loeb David McClain, Joseph Edward Paul Melville, Michael L. Merritt Gregory and Joy Morin, James Nardulli, Chris and Melodie Rufer, Leif Smith Dr. Th omas L. Wenck, Brian J. Wilton, Walter and Sharon Woodul III Donors Anonymous, Wesley and Terri Alexander Th omas T. Amlie making amends for grandfather Th omas Ryum Amlie William H. Anderson, John Bartel, Dr. Th omas Beazlie, Ryan Best Bob and Rita Bost, Rémi Boudreau, John Boyer, Michael L. Burks John L. Buttolph III, Prof. Paul Cantor, Terence Corcoran, Jim and Cherie Cox Paul Dietrich, Randall Dollahon and Kathleen Lacey, Jeff ery M. Doty Prof. Frank van Dun, Bill Eaton, David J. Emery, Eric Englund, John Rock Foster Dietmar Georg, Christopher Georgacas, Kevin Paul Hamilton Charles F. Hanes, Sheldon Hayer, Wilfrid Helms, Dr. Frederic Herman Adam W. Hogan, Greg E.
    [Show full text]
  • Ellen Richards's Home Economics Movement And
    ELLEN RICHARDS’S HOME ECONOMICS MOVEMENT AND THE BIRTH OF THE ECONOMICS OF CONSUMPTION BY DAVID PHILIPPY* Abstract In 1899, MIT chemist Ellen H. Richards (1842–1911) instigated a series of annual “Lake Placid Conferences” (1899–1908) that became known as the foundation of the home economics movement. Richards’s first interest was in improving the household’s well-being by using sanitary and nutrition sciences, an objective that was passed on to the movement. However, by the 1920s, home economists rather identified their field of expertise as the “science of consumption,” emphasizing the idea of “rational consumption.” My aim in this article is to give an account of how this shift in focus came about, by telling the story of the home economics movement founded by Richards. I examine how the movement problematized consumption by highlighting its relationship and perception of itself regarding economics. I argue that the concept of consumption was central to the structuring of the movement from its beginning and allowed home economists to claim it as their field of expertise because, as they believed, economists were not addressing the issue. * Université de Lausanne, Walras-Pareto Center. Contact: [email protected] This “preprint” is the peer-reviewed and accepted typescript of an article that is forthcoming in revised form, after minor editorial changes, in the Journal of the History of Economic Thought (ISSN: 1053-8372), issue TBA. Copyright to the journal’s articles is held by the History of Economics Society (HES), whose exclusive licensee and publisher for the journal is Cambridge University Press. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-history-of-economic-thought) This preprint may be used only for private research and study and is not to be distributed further.
    [Show full text]
  • Lump of Labour – Which Can Be Shared out in Different Ways to Create
    Why Economists Dislike a Lump of Labor by the Sandwichman One of the best-known fallacies in economics is the notion that there is a fixed amount of work to be done – a lump of labour – which can be shared out in different ways to create fewer or more jobs (Bishop 2004, 159). The regulation of working time has been a controversial topic since at least the second decade of the nineteenth century when the Ten Hours Movement was active in Great Britain. How the hours of work are determined in the absence of direct government regulation is also controversial, with neoclassical economists arguing that the individual supply of labor time is based on workers’ choices between income and leisure while Marxists and institutionalists maintain that political power, institutional structures and class conflict are decisive (Philp et al. 2005). Over the course of the twentieth century, an odd polemic has become a commonplace in the discourse of mainstream economics. That polemic is based on the claim that policies aimed at creating employment through limiting the hours of work stem from the mistaken belief that there is a fixed amount of work to be done. Economists call this allegedly widespread delusion the ‘lump-of-labor fallacy.’ Recently, denunciations of the lump-of-labor fallacy have surfaced in debates about attempts by European governments to combat joblessness through policies that reduce working time, such as the 35-hour workweek introduced in France in the late 1990s. This article catalogs some of those recent flare-ups and examines the substance, history and possible consequences for policy deliberation of the claim.
    [Show full text]
  • The Goals of Antitrust and Competition Policy Stephen Martin Purdue University
    Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Purdue CIBER Working Papers Krannert Graduate School of Management 1-1-2007 The Goals of Antitrust and Competition Policy Stephen Martin Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ciberwp Martin, Stephen, "The Goals of Antitrust and Competition Policy" (2007). Purdue CIBER Working Papers. Paper 48. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ciberwp/48 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. The Goals of Antitrust and Competition Policy Stephen Martin Department of Economics Purdue University 2007­003 Goals0707Cmu.doc The Goals of Antitrust and Competition Policy Stephen Martin* Department of Economics Purdue University 403 West State Street West Lafayette, Indiana 47907­2056, USA [email protected] July 2007 Abstract U.S. antitrust policy and EC competition policy began at different times and in very different contexts. U.S. antitrust at first pursued multiple economic and political goals. Against a persistent, if cyclical, campaign that it was at best unnecessary and at worst absolutely harmful, antitrust developed first a reliance on competition in the sense of rivalry to promote good market performance and has lately moved to explicit welfare evaluation, in an economic sense, as a policy standard. How one ought to measure market performance (consumer welfare or net social welfare) remains a subject of discussion. Use of the economic welfare standard is, at this writing, characterized by judicial application that is inconsistent with mainstream economics. EC competition policy long relied on competition in the sense of rivalry to promote market integration and good market performance, the two goals being thought to be largely compatible.
    [Show full text]