CHAPTER 24. THE RELATION OF LABOR TO VALUE

1. May a singer of songs or a mixer of drinks be called a productive

laborer?

2. Are fine products high in price because wages are high, or vice

versa?

3. Is common, unskilled labor "scarce" (in any reasonable sense of the

word) in China? in the United States?

4. Can a manufacturer pay the same to laborers if the product will be

marketed next year, as he can if it is to be marketed to-morrow? If so,

how is the value of the labor adjusted to its product?

NOTE.--An able discussion of the effect of discounting in

the sale of labor in the market is given by Böhm-Bawerk,

_Positive Theory of Capital_, pp. 313-318 _et seq._; see

also Wieser, _Natural Value_, numerous passages. The

changes in industrial organization are treated with

historic insight by Hadley, _Economics_, Secs. 341-354. F.

W. Taussig's _Wages and Capital_ (1896) gives a sympathetic

interpretation of the wage-fund doctrine; the work is

especially valuable for its excellent review of the history

of the subject and for the chapters analyzing the modern

industrial process.

The Principles of Economics, with Applications to Practical Problems · 第 24 / 57 章