EFFICIENCY WAGES AND EQUILIBRIUM WAGES

We present a labor market model that allows as special cases a market paying equilibrium wages, one paying disequilibrium efficiency wages, and a market combining the two. Our analysis indicates that industrial wage differentials are not necessarily evidence of efficiency wages. Such differentials may be explained by differences across industries in labor performance standards or in the accuracy with which worker effort can be measured. We do find, however, that the relationship between wages and dismissals can be used to distinguish a market paying equilibrium wages from one paying efficiency wages.     

THE ATTITUDINAL CLIMATE FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Successful entrepreneurial activity is a major source of jobcreation and a vital part of a healthy market economy. Thisarticle examines the attitudes that, taken collectively withina region, may contribute to a climate that is conducive to andsupportive of this activity. Four different components thatcharacterize these attitudes are identified—the willingnessto take risks and accept the possibility of failure, the perceiveddifficulty of starting new firms, the importance and respectaccorded to new and small firms and their owners, and the socializationchildren are likely to receive from their parents. These attitudinalcomponents are related to measures of the structure and performanceof the respondent's local economy and to individual factors.The most important finding is that pro-entrepreneurial attitudesare lower among individuals working in large organizations andamong those who live in areas dominated by large organizationsregardless of the size of their own employer. Other measuresof the local economy, such as past success in creating new businesses,were not associated with differences in attitudes. Attitudesalso are related to individual attributes such as age and income.     

New Left,not New Liberal: 1960s Movements in English Canada and Quebec*

Les données tirées d'carune enquête auprès de 471 des principaux militants et militantes du Québec et du Canada anglais pendant les années soixante confirment des hypothèses qui contredisent fortement les prédictions sur la nature des mouvements sociaux depuis 1960 basées sur la théorie des New Social Movements. l'auteur propose la construction d'carune nouvelle théorie postmarxiste des mouvements sociaux fondée sur la reconnaissance du fait que, depuis 1960, l'aile gauche des mouvements sociaux a continué d'carêtre une vraie gauche et non un nouveau genre de libéralisme. Data from a survey of 471 leading 1960s activists in Quebec and English Canada confirm hypotheses that strongly contradict predictions about the nature of post‐1960 movements derived from the New Social Movements theory. It is argued that a new approach to developing a post‐Marxist theory of social movements is needed, starting from a recognition that the politics of the left wing of post‐1960 movements are “new left,” not “new liberal.”     

The Allocation of Male and Female Occupational Prestige in an Ontario Urban Area: A Quarter‐Century Replication*

Une étude de 1975 portant sur L'évaluation du prestige des titres de profession spécifiés comme détenus par un homme ou une femme a été répétée en 2000. Les deux enquêtes ont été conduites à Kitchener‐Waterloo en Ontario. Alors que les données de 1975 accordaient un avantage de cinq points en moyenne aux hommes sur les femmes, ce fossé des sexes a disparu en 2000. Dans les postes où le travail est plus axé sur les personnes, les femmes se voient maintenant accorder un plus haut prestige que les hommes. L'article fait référence à la manière dont ces changements sociaux sont liés au cours du dernier quart de siècle à une convergence dans L'identification sexuelle des professions. Les sources de variation dans les évaluations de L'échantillonnage de 2000 sont analysées et considérées comme minimes quoique les répondants ayant un plus haut degré d'éducation classent toutes les professions légèrement à la baisse. A 1975 study on the evaluation of the prestige of occupational titles specified as held by a man or a woman was replicated in 2000. Both surveys were collected in Kitchener‐Waterloo, Ontario. While the 1975 data revealed an average five‐point advantage to men over women, this gender gap had disappeared by the year 2000. In more people‐oriented work, women are now accorded higher prestige than men. The paper refers to how these social changes are linked with convergence over the quarter century in the sex typing of occupations. Sources of variation in ratings within the 2000 sample are examined and found to be minimal, although more highly educated respondents grade all occupations slightly on the low side.     

Can Social Systems be Autopoietic? Bhaskar's and Giddens’ Social Theories

The theory of autopoiesis, that is systems that are self-producing or self-constructing , was originally developed to explain the particular nature of living as opposed to non-living entities. It was subsequently enlarged to encompass cognition and language leading to what is known as second-order cybernetics. However, as with earlier biological theories, many authors have tried to extend the domain of the theory to encompass social systems, the most notable being Luhmann. The pur-pose of this paper is to consider critically the extent to which the theory of autopoiesis, as originally defined, can be applied to social systems-that is, whether social systems are autopoietic. And, if it cannot, whether some weaker version might be appropriate. It addresses this question by considering whether autopoiesis can be applied to the theoretical conceptions of Giddens and Bhaskar. It follows an earlier paper that evaluated Luhmann's autopoietic social theory.     

RIGHT-TO-WORK LAWS AND FREE RIDING

Many economists argue that state right-to-work laws, by disallowing union shops, encourage free riding and thus diminish union viability. Others counter that right-to-work laws are not enforced and that they represent local attitudes and employee characteristics which would encourage free riding in any me. We find that when other factors which affect free riding are taken into account, the marginal impact of right-to-work laws remains significant, although of a smaller magnitude than that found in previous bivariate studies.     

UNEMPLOYMENT AND OTHER MEASURES OF LABOR MARKET INEFFICIENCY: A COMPARISON OF U.K. AND U.S. LABOR MARKETS 1931–96

Although unemployment is often used as a measure of labor market inefficiency, economic theory indicates that market inefficiency is determined by both the gap between and the elasticities of supply and demand. Using time series data for the United States and United Kingdom, this article investigates how good the unemployment rate is as a measure of labor market inefficiency by calculating the deadweight loss associated with unemployment rates over time. Results show that the loss arising from unemployment is low across time and countries and that the unemployment rate is often a weak proxy for comparing labor market inefficiency. (JEL J6 )