On 2/3/2011 10:55 AM, David Green wrote:
>
> It seems to me that, given the verifiable long-term increases in productivity,
> not matched by increases in wages, it would be the burden of "human capital"
> theorists to show that there is something more that schools or individuals could
> have done/should do to increase productivity even further, thus making our
> country more "competitive." "Human capital" theorists apparently want people to
> believe this, without looking too closely as to whether there is any evidence to
> support it. I can't imagine that there is any. Obviously, people have enhanced
> their skills. Obviously, that gives capitalists even greater opportunities to
> mroe profitably exploit their labor. What "human capital" is supposed to mean in
> the midst of all of this, in relation to schooling, skills, or anything else, I
> have no idea. But I would like to see the schools not being scapegoated for the
> normal functioning of capitalism on a leftist listserv.
Totally agreed about not scapegoating schools. But I still don't think we're talking about the same thing here. First of all, productivity doesn't necessarily have anything to do with making the nation more competitive. Productivity sets a ceiling on living standards - even for a country that doesn't trade at all with other countries. It's not about competition, it's about the physical maximum the economy can produce.
Second, you're talking about wages. As I just wrote in response to Alan:
> Just to clear up a common confusion: labor productivity = output /
> hours worked. It has nothing to do with wages. Wages can be high;
> wages can be low; it doesn't affect the measurement of productivity.
If skills had nothing to do with productivity, then wouldn't you expect to see GE building factories in the poorest countries with the lowest wages - e.g., in Africa, Central America, the Mideast, Central Asia? Instead, they build them in Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Malaysia - countries with much higher wages. The business people involved in those decisions usually say skill levels have a lot to do with these decisions.
SA