Wages, Productivity, and Work Intensity in the Great Depression

Julia Darby () and Robert A. Hart ()

No 543, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Abstract: We show that U.S. manufacturing wages during the Great Depression were importantly determined by forces on firms' intensive margins. Short-run changes in work intensity and the longer-term goal of restoring full potential productivity combined to influence real wage growth. By contrast, the external effects of unemployment and replacement rates had much less impact. Empirical work is undertaken against the background of an efficient bargaining model that embraces employment, hours of work and work intensity.

Keywords: wages; productivity; work intensity; Great Depression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J31 N62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
Date: 2002-08
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Related works:
Working Paper: Wages, Productivity and Work Intensity in the Great Depression (2002)
Journal Article: Wages, Productivity, and Work Intensity in the Great Depression (2008)
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