Worker surveillance capital, labour share, and productivity

Workplace surveillance: an overview

Philippe Askenazy

Oxford Economic Papers, 2022, vol. 74, issue 1, 85-93

Abstract: This paper proposes a basic model with two types of capital: productive capital directly involved in the production process and capital devoted to monitoring workers. Surveillance capital intensifies workers’ job strain, while wage recognition encourages their engagement. Firms face a double trade-off between the two types of capital, and between incentives and labour costs. Under simple assumptions, up to a certain threshold, technological innovation improves productivity, wages, and profits at the same pace, leading to a flat labour share in income. Then, once the threshold is breached, profit-maximization initiates a transfer from productive capital to monitoring tools. This progressive shift generates a decline in the labour share and a productivity slowdown, despite greater job strain. The model suggests the possibility of a third phase in which productivity recovers.

JEL-codes: J28 J30 O33 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Related works:
Working Paper: Worker surveillance capital, labour share and productivity (2022)
Working Paper: Worker surveillance capital, labour share and productivity (2020)
Working Paper: Worker Surveillance Capital, Labour Share and Productivity (2020)
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