Productivity and the Crisis of Fordism

Andrew John Glyn

International Review of Applied Economics, 1990, vol. 4, issue 1, pages 28-44

Abstract: The paper examines the claim by the regulation school of French economists that the slackening of productivity growth in the advanced capitalist countries reflects the erosion of the "Fordist" system of production. Productivity trends are analyzed for the biggest six OECD countries for the period prior to the 1974 oil shock. There are definite indicators of slackening productivity growth, either for labor productivity or for the output-capital ratio, for most of the countries examined. But a disaggregated analysis, and assessment of the relative productivity levels in the countries concerned, does not support the idea that a whole system of technologies and work organization was reaching inherent limits. It is suggested, rather, that the productivity problems reflected the power of the boom of the 1950s and 1960s in eroding the reserves of surplus labor and increasing workers' organizational strength. Copyright 1990 by Taylor and Francis Group

Date: 1990

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:irapec:v:4:y:1990:i:1:p:28-44

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International Review of Applied Economics is edited by Malcolm Sawyer, Philip Arestis, Keith Cowling and Ron Smith

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