Corporatism in America Part V
(this post is new)
To follow up on the earlier posts which were based on the Cato article and Fools Gold (see below), I will now add some thoughts from NRA Economic Planning. I hope to follow up with lots more from that excellent book later.
"...industrial planning implies the standardization of production,employment and prices; the standardization of materials, products and methods, and the substitution of concerted action and forethought for unco-ordinated and predatory competition either in a single industry or over the entire area of industry. It means the shaping of individual and corporate industrial activities into a co-ordinated whole...Industrial planning is the conscious guidance of our industrial life by collective methods"
Who said this?
George B. Galloway, chief of the planning division of the NRA. He went on to admit the areas of freedom which might be lost under his collective planning:
"To be sure, the execution of group plans involves some limitations upon the economic decisions of individuals or corporations whose activities must be adjusted to the policies adopted for the industry as a whole. The decisions subject to limitation include those pertaining to production, prices, hours, wages, savings, investment, trade practices and the use of property."
Oh, is that all? Just production, prices, hours, wages, savings, investment, trade practices and the use of property? That's not too bad then.
One interesting are of research is the effect of rent-seeking by labor unions and corporations, using the powerful levers of the NRA's more discretionary rulings, or the laws for which they can offer exemptions to industry. It is well known that in countries with more bureaucracy and less free markets, corruption and political wrangling replace market entrepreneurship. In the case of the NRA laws, overtime pay was suggested as a replacement for maximum hours; but interest groups and corporations could battle for exemptions to maximum hours instead. Labor unions did so because they wanted monopolistic control over wage setting; firms, meanwhile, wanted exemptions rather than having to incur overtime pay costs.
Hence, while a rule of overtime pay applied equally to all industry would have been simpler and would have given firms more flexibility, it was never enacted and instead dozens of codes for dozens of industries (many completely unenforceable) were supplemented with dozens of exceptions each.
And, the evidence suggests that this somehow did not help relieve unemployment. Go figure.
To follow up on the earlier posts which were based on the Cato article and Fools Gold (see below), I will now add some thoughts from NRA Economic Planning. I hope to follow up with lots more from that excellent book later.
"...industrial planning implies the standardization of production,employment and prices; the standardization of materials, products and methods, and the substitution of concerted action and forethought for unco-ordinated and predatory competition either in a single industry or over the entire area of industry. It means the shaping of individual and corporate industrial activities into a co-ordinated whole...Industrial planning is the conscious guidance of our industrial life by collective methods"
Who said this?
George B. Galloway, chief of the planning division of the NRA. He went on to admit the areas of freedom which might be lost under his collective planning:
"To be sure, the execution of group plans involves some limitations upon the economic decisions of individuals or corporations whose activities must be adjusted to the policies adopted for the industry as a whole. The decisions subject to limitation include those pertaining to production, prices, hours, wages, savings, investment, trade practices and the use of property."
Oh, is that all? Just production, prices, hours, wages, savings, investment, trade practices and the use of property? That's not too bad then.
One interesting are of research is the effect of rent-seeking by labor unions and corporations, using the powerful levers of the NRA's more discretionary rulings, or the laws for which they can offer exemptions to industry. It is well known that in countries with more bureaucracy and less free markets, corruption and political wrangling replace market entrepreneurship. In the case of the NRA laws, overtime pay was suggested as a replacement for maximum hours; but interest groups and corporations could battle for exemptions to maximum hours instead. Labor unions did so because they wanted monopolistic control over wage setting; firms, meanwhile, wanted exemptions rather than having to incur overtime pay costs.
Hence, while a rule of overtime pay applied equally to all industry would have been simpler and would have given firms more flexibility, it was never enacted and instead dozens of codes for dozens of industries (many completely unenforceable) were supplemented with dozens of exceptions each.
And, the evidence suggests that this somehow did not help relieve unemployment. Go figure.
Labels: corporatism, NRA
posted by liberty at
4:38 PM
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