[lbo-talk] question for DanDav - or anyone else?

[Doug Henwood]

But isn't it amazing that the leading sector in the productivity 
acceleration was retail, where wages are low and stagnating? It 
challenges the whole concept of productivity, no?

Doug

Michael Perelman wrote:


>I said you can punch holes in it.  Seth did not ask for reality but 
>what we are supposed to
>say.
>
>On Fri, May 13, 2005 at 08:03:51PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
>>  michael perelman wrote:
>>
>>  >*The story that they tell is that many low-wage workers merely lack
>>  >the necessary skills for a modern economy.   So that the
>>  >productivity of these workers declines because their skills are
>>  >obsolete.  You can punch holes in this story pretty easily, but not
>>  >in 10 second sound bites.*
>>
>>  But Nordhaus & Gordon & Triplett say that a quarter of the
>>  productivity acceleration came from retail, the ideal type of the
>>  low-wage sector - and that mainly came from Wal-Mart.
>>
>>  Doug
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>
>--
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 530-898-5321
>E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
>___________________________________
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