Worker Satisfaction and Economic Performance

by Altman,Morris

• ISBN13: 9780765605917
• ISBN10: 0765605910
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book challenges some of the fundamental tenets of "free market" economics that have had a profound impact on public policy and the plight of the American worker. These include the beliefs that high wages inevitably mean low profits; that a "free" market will automatically reduce discrimination and pay inequality; that anti-trust legislation hinders competitive market forces; and that minimum wage laws and trade unions negatively impact the economy.

Using both theoretical analysis and real-life examples, the author shows that these myths are a product of unrealistic behavioral assumptions on the part of "free market" economists about the typical worker. In fact, as the author makes clear, the level of workers' satisfaction with their jobs, as a reflection of how well they are paid and treated by their employers, has a direct impact on the quality level of the products they produce and, inevitably, the economic performance of the firms.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Shlomo Maital
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction: Revising the Microfoundations of Economics	3	(23)
Human Agency as a Determinant of Material Welfare	26	(24)
The Methodology of Economics and the Survival Principle Revised	50	(19)
A Behavioral Theory of Economic Welfare and Economic Justice	69	(34)
The Economics of Exogenous Increases in Wage Rates in a Behavioral/X-Efficiency Model of the Firm	103	(16)
A Behavioral Model of Endogenous Economic Growth	119	(18)
Interfirm, Interregional, and International Differences in Labor Productivity: Why Convergence Need Not Take Place	137	(13)
The Economics of Profitable Inefficiency and Market Failure: A Behavioral Model of Path Dependency	150	(20)
Economic Theory, Public Policy, and the Challenge of Innovative Work Practices	170	(12)
The Efficiency- and Welfare-Promoting Role of Labor Rights and Labor Power in a Market Economy	182	(17)
A Revisionist View of the Economic Implications of Child Labor Regulations	199	(17)
How Discriminatory Pay Inequality Can Persist: Even in Competitive Markets	216	(14)
When Green Isn't Mean: The Economics of Environmental Regulations	230	(17)
Big Is Not Always Better: A Critical Appraisal of the Transaction Cost--Economizing Paradigm	247	(13)
Culture as a Determinant of Material Welfare	260	(11)
References	271	(18)
Index	289	(10)
About the Author	299