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The article presents comments to Tobin and Ross' paper "Reply to Gordon Tullock" in the May 1972 issue of this journal. The author finds problems with the authors' idea to fund the government through taxing wages. Another problem is the assumption that workers are more interested in relative wages than absolute wages and the proposition that continuing inflation is needed in order to maintain full employment. A graph is provided that measures the rates of change of prices and unemployment in a hypothetical situation.

In the January 1964 issue of this journal, Professors Maurice C. Benewitz and Robert E. Weintraub calculated the loss in employment within New York City which would follow an increase of the minimum wage to $1.50 from $1.15 per hour. They utilized a very interesting technique; namely, the Cobb-Douglas function. I think these calculations do not, however, present an accurate picture of the actual employment loss which would follow increase in the minimum wage because: (1) their use of the Cobb-Douglas function is improper; (2) assumptions adopted in their study are questionable. This ingenious article fails to provide a reasonably accurate measure of job loss from an increase in the minimum New York City wage to $1.50 per hour due to: (1) failure to make proper use of the Cobb-Douglas function; (2) insufficient analysis of the effect of increase in minimum wage to $1.50 on those already earning $1.50 and up initially; (3) the assumption that product prices do not rise, unlikely to be true for retailing and services; (4) failure to analyze effect of increase in minimum wage on migration of business and jobs out of the city. The general techniques used may, however, be considered one cornerstone of future attempts to measure loss of jobs due to legally imposed business cost increases. Some other cornerstones would be: wage structure analysis, product supply function elasticity analysis, product demand function elasticity analysis, analysis of the time pattern of business migration response to local cost increases.

This paper presents a response by John M. Peterson to comments on his article regarding employment effects of minimum wages in the U.S. The author points out that no attempt was made to explain the results among females with high and low minimums. He argues that Richard A. Lester cannot use the recession to account for the less favorable employment changes for women than men. The author stresses that his article remains unaffected by Lester's observations.

Studies of the employment effects of minimum wage laws have generally been interpreted as showing no relationship between the increases in wages and subsequent changes in employment of the groups affected. Using the data from three leading studies often cited in support of this conclusion, the author of this article argues that the employment effects have not only been significantly related to the minimum wage orders but also that they have been consistent with the assumption of a negatively inclined demand curve for labor. He concludes from his re-examination of the data that, with reference to wage-employment problems, orthodox wage theory deserves more respect than it has been granted by many economists and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inherent in the ideal of the union as a voluntary organization whose sole function is promotion of the welfare of its worker-members is the concept that its government and operations should be democratic. Much of the criticism of unions involves allegations about their lack of democracy. In the United States, matters of internal government have largely been left to the conscience and control of the unions themselves. In Australia, in contrast, the government, through the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, has attempted to insure democratic union behavior through direct and rather detailed regulation. This article reviews the Australian experience, especially in reference to union elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The market structure of building construction makes the industry unique in the business scene. As a result, so too is the role of the principal union official in the building trades—the business agent. This study, based on first-hand observation of the business agent at work, describes his daily activities, analyzes his relations with workers and employers, and examines the meaning of his job to the business agent as a person. Comparisons are made with the situation of officers in local industrial unions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various current union proposals for a guaranteed annual wage assume that, during periods of unemployment, employees covered by the guarantee will be eligible for benefits under state unemployment compensation laws. Some of the legislative and administrative implications of this assumption are discussed in this paper by William Papier who is director of the Division of Research and Statistics of the Bureau of Unemployment Compensation of the State of Ohio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equally as old as the study of economics is the question, Can economists supply definite and useful answers to the practical problems confronting administrators? In a discussion of the variety and complexity of issues arising in the seemingly simple matter of setting a minimum wage for a small processing industry, Professor Rottenberg indicates the usefulness and limitations of economic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of union bargaining upon occupational wage relationships is an issue on which there is divergence of opinion among labor economists. Does collective bargaining tend to narrow differences in wages among workers of different skills? What are the attitudes of workers — do they desire or oppose such differentials? Pacific Coast longshoring furnishes an interesting example of an industry where occupational wage differences are virtually nonexistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article comments on the findings of the report released by Murray Latimer and colleagues on guaranteed wages in the U.S. in 1947. The report, which proposes the extension of the wage plan, does not consider guaranteed wages as a solution to unemployment. The report also recommends that a maximum work week be established through collective bargaining. Included in the discussion was the relationship of guaranteed wages to unemployment compensation. In concluding this aspect of the report, it was said that the adoption of wage plans would be ineffective in case of the adoption of supplementation.

The article comments on the efficacy of employment subsidies designed to increase employment opportunities for poor workers. Subsidies proposed by Lowell Gallaway in the book "Manpower Economics," are critiqued. Employment subsidies are defined as an antipoverty provision in which an incentive is provided by the federal government to employers to encourage hiring of unemployed workers. The author discusses the impact of a national minimum wage on the labor market. Employment subsidies are compared with income subsidies, which would ensure a minimum income for workers. Positive and negative aspects of each type of subsidy program, including operational costs, are addressed.

This article examines some aspects of economic adjustment through migration flows. The authors are concerned with a contrasting case, the case in which it is assumed that there is no trade in goods, but that labor is internationally mobile and moves in response to wage differentials. Interest in this case is generated by the fact that while population movements are of obvious quantitative importance in the real world, their implications for economic adjustment often have not been systematically taken into account. The authors are able to consider not only the direct effect on migration flows of influences such as changes in relative wages or changes in the age structure of the population, whatever their cause, but also to analyze the impact of migration on the productive capacities and income levels of the migrant-receiving and migrant-losing countries, and hence on the course of future migration.

The article discusses the trends in real wages in England from 1750 to 1850. It is simply an attempt to consider as much as possible of the whole body of wage and price material currently available in print, and to examine the extent to which generalization from it is possible. The problem remains to determine whether and to what extent workers benefited or suffered materially from the economic changes of the first stages of the Industrial Revolution. To do this it seems imperative to take an initial terminal point immediately before the first significant changes occurred. Somewhere in the middle of the eighteenth century seems suitable for this, particularly since the third quarter of the century witnessed the beginning of the long price rise of the later eighteenth century that in itself is one of the causes of the historians' difficulties. There is, however, some agreement between historians that real wages were rising all round from the late 1840's onwards; and since the object of this survey is to attempt to resolve controversy, there is a strong case for carrying on to the point at which controversy ceases, namely the late 1840's.

Discusses issues concerning the minimum wage laws in the U.S. Need to educate the public about the law of demand relating to labour; Information on the theory of economist Frank G. Steindl; Discussion of the Downsian economics of politics.

Two recent papers [5, 6] developed a theory of input demand for a firm that is a monopsonist in hiring some factors of production. The object of this paper is to extend the analysis to some important aspects of the theory of monopsony not covered by those or by any other papers. Specifically, this paper rigorously examines within the mathematical model of monopsony the effect upon cost, output, and input usage of a minimum wage imposed upon the monopsonized factor of production.
This paper has extended the standard textbook analysis of monopsony and minimum wage to the general case in which ail factors are variable. The investigation confirms the simple graphical result previously obtained: despite the potential counter effects of displacements in other markets (factor or commodity), a minimum wage imposed upon a monopsonized factor must increase the usage of that factor. The minimum wage will also have an effect upon output and therefore cost. One contribution of the paper is to show that equilibrium profit-maximizing output will decline unless the monopsonized factor is inferior. In the latter case, equilibrium output will increase. In most cases, the results have confirmed the standard analysis. A primary result has been the isolation of the forces that affect the magnitude of the changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on developments in industrial relations in the U.S. as of November 1973. Innovations at Chrysler Corp.; President Richard Nixon's veto on a bill on higher minimum wage; Pay raise for U.S. Federal white-collar and military personnel; AFL-CIO reorganization proposal; Death of Electrical Workers founder James Carey.