Economic essays

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1753623200

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136107

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Economic essays

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: viii, 368 S.; Ill., graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Elasticity of supply as a determinant of distribution / Paul H. Douglas

Collection:: Economics Books

98 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK inelastic supply curve above the point of present return and (2) a highly elastic supply curve below this point. The above conclusions may throw some light upon why the owners of land derive great advantages from an advance In industrial effectiveness, in which their factor does not increase, and also why they suffer most during periods of industrial retro- oression when their supply cannot contract. TV ir 7. Elasticities of Supply in Relation to Changes in Bargaining Power Let us turn now to what the results would be if the relative bargaining power of any one factor were to be increased without any change in the effectiveness of industry as a whole. A. What is an Improvement in Bargaining Power? This forces us to a consideration of what is meant by bargain- ing power and what constitutes an improvement in it. There are three possible forms which this improvement may take, of which the last two are by far the most important: (1) An improve- ment in the technique of negotiations, such as greater knowl- edge of the situation and personal adroitness and shrewdness in driving a bargain. (2) A shifting of the supply schedule in some measure to the left so that at the same price a smaller quantity will be offered than before. (3) The introduction of at least a partial monopoly of supply so that a large number of anits will have to be accepted or rejected as a block instead of the atomistic competition usually posited. In so far as greater knowledge of the economic situation is a factor, this enables the final adjustment to be more closely in harmony with the equilibrium which the economic forces would tend to bring about than would otherwise be the case. Greater technical skill in driving a bargain would undoubtedly help many individuals, but it certainly would not alter the five funda- mental conditions outlined in the concluding paragraph of Section 9 Tt would assist the weaker factor in securing more nearly what pure economic forces would tend to secure for them, but it would not seem that craft and bargaining ability could by themselves alter permanently in all circumstances the amounts which each would receive. Men who think that this can be done forget that there is a great deal of competition between capitalists for labor and between laborers for employment.

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