The ‘work as bad’ thesis in economics: origins, evolution, and challenges

Abstract

This paper argues that in all major of epochs of economic thought – mercantilist, classical, and neoclassical – work has been portrayed as an unloved necessity. Politically, the treatment of work as a necessary evil has created undue pessimism about the prospects for progress in the quality of work and has helped to justify repressive policies to compel the working population to work hard. The ‘work as bad’ thesis, however, has been challenged by several writers, including Marx and the American institutional economists Commons and Veblen. These authors showed how the costs of work were socially determined and highlighted the possibility for intrinsically rewarding work under a transformed system of work. It is argued that in spite of some efforts to extend the analysis of work in mainstream economics such analysis is still lacking in comparison with similar analysis developed outside the mainstream paradigm. The paper outlines some of the strengths of an alternative economics of work based on insights drawn from non-mainstream economics.

Acknowledgement

I am grateful for the comments of three anonymous referees on earlier drafts of this paper. I am also grateful for the assistance and support of the Editor of this Journal. Remaining errors are mine alone.

Notes

Notes

1. Lutz and Lux, Challenge of Humanistic Economics, 142–3; Lane, ‘Work as “Disutility”’; Spencer, Political Economy of Work.

2. Lutz and Lux, Challenge of Humanistic Economics, Chap. 8; Pagano, Work and Welfare; Lane, ‘Work as “Disutility”’; Spencer, Political Economy of Work.

3. Coats, ‘Changing Attitudes to Labour’; Marshall, ‘Scottish Economic Thought’; Firth, ‘Moral Supervision’; Dew, ‘Political Economy’.

4. Hatcher, ‘Labour, Leisure’.

5. Furniss, Position of the Labourer; Hatcher, ‘Labour, Leisure’.

6. Young, The Farmer's Tour, vol. 4, 361.

7. Marshall, ‘Scottish Economic Thought’, 313–14.

8. Furniss, Position of the Labourer.

9. Ibid., 121–2; Firth, ‘Moral Supervision’, 47.

10. Hill, ‘Pottage for a Freeborn Englishman’; Thompson, ‘Time, Work-Discipline’.

11. Furniss, Position of the Labourer, 128–30; Dew, ‘Political Economy’, 1216.

12. Smith, Inquiry into the Nature, vol. 1, 47.

13. Ibid., vol. 1, 116–17.

14. Ibid., vol. 2, 782.

15. Rosenberg, ‘Some Institutional Aspects’, 557.

16. Smith, Inquiry into the Nature, vol. 1, 50.

17. Bentham, Deontology, 104.

18. For a similarly negative depiction of work, see Malthus, Essay on the Principle of Population, 356–7; McCulloch, Principles of Political Economy, 7.

19. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, 756.

20. Ibid., 207.

21. Ibid., 792.

22. Carlyle, ‘Nigger Question’.

23. Mill, ‘Negro Question’, 90.

24. Mill, ‘Slave Power’, 147.

25. It should be noted here that the classical economists adopted a highly sceptical attitude towards the nineteenth century Factory Acts that aimed at alleviating some of the distresses of paid work. See Blaug, ‘Classical Economists’. Such scepticism hardly endeared them to the representatives and supporters of the working classes in Britain.

26. Pencavel, ‘Labor Supply of Men’; Altman, ‘Behavioral Model’.

27. Kreps, ‘Intrinsic and Extrinsic Incentives’.

28. Spencer, ‘Deconstructing the Labour’; Spencer, ‘From Pain Cost’.

29. Pagano, Work and Welfare; Steedman, ‘Welfare Economics’; Spencer, ‘Deconstructing the Labour’; Spencer, ‘From Pain Cost’.

30. In reality, it is not evident that workers actually receive ‘compensating differentials’. Hence many well-paid workers have high quality jobs, whereas many lower paid workers have low quality jobs.

31. Green, Demanding Work, 9–12.

32. Spencer, ‘Love's Labor's Lost?’; Spencer, ‘Deconstructing the Labour’; Spencer, ‘From Pain Cost’. Spencer, Political Economy of Work.

33. Marshall, ‘Future of the Working Classes’, 115.

34. Ibid., 110; Marshall, Principles of Economics, 720.

35. Spencer, ‘From Pain Cost’.

36. Spencer, Political Economy of Work.

37. The conventional model of labour supply predicts that the impact of a wage change on work hours will depend on the relative strengths of the income and substitution effects. This is as far as the model goes. It does not say under what circumstances the income effect will outweigh the substitution effect and vice versa. Effectively, it is unable to offer any definitive prediction as to the relationship between labour supply and wages. See Altman, ‘Behavioral Model’.

38. Kaufman, ‘Expanding the Behavorial Foundations’, 370.

39. Green, Demanding Work, 8–9.

40. Scitovsky, Joyless Economy, 89–105.

41. Kaufman, ‘Expanding the Behavorial Foundations’; Prasch, ‘Reassessing the Labor’; Altman, ‘Behavioral Model’.

42. Alchian and Demsetz, ‘Production, Information Costs’.

43. Williamson, Economic Institutions of Capitalism.

44. Akerlof and Yellen, Efficiency Wage Models.

45. Lazear, ‘Future of Personnel Economics’.

46. Williamson, Economic Institutions of Capitalism, 47–52.

47. Edwards, ‘Politics of Conflict and Consent’.

48. Spencer, ‘Love's Labor's Lost?’; Spencer, ‘Deconstructing the Labour’; Spencer, Political Economy of Work.

49. Frey and Stutzer, Happiness and Economics; Layard, Happiness.

50. Clark, ‘What Really Matters in a Job?’.

51. Frey and Stutzer, Happiness and Economics.

52. Green, Demanding Work, 13–15; Brown et al., ‘Job Quality’.

53. Marx, Grundrisse, 611.

54. Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, 68.

55. Ibid., 66.

56. Sayers, ‘Why Work?’.

57. Marx, ‘Comments on James Mill’, 228.

58. Spencer, ‘Work in Utopia’.

59. Lutz and Lux, Challenge of Humanistic Economics, 38–40; Lutz, Economics for the Common Good, 64–7.

60. Ruskin, ‘The Stones of Venice’, 194.

61. Hobson, John Ruskin, 185–9; Spear, Dreams of an English Eden, 154–5.

62. Lutz, Economics for the Common Good, 67–8.

63. Lutz and Lux, Challenge of Humanistic Economics, 40–3; Lutz, Economics for the Common Good, 84–97.

64. Hobson, Work and Wealth, 32–7.

65. Ibid., 256.

66. Lutz, Economics for the Common Good, 100.

67. McNulty, Origins and Development; Boyer and Smith, ‘The Development’.

68. Kaufman, ‘Industrial Relations’, 302–3.

69. Ely, Labor Movement in America, 3.

70. Kaufman, ‘Institutional Economics’, 36–7.

71. Kaufman, ‘Industrial Relations’, 299–303.

72. Ibid., 299.

73. Hodgson, ‘John R. Commons’.

74. Kaufman, ‘Industrial Relations’, 303.

75. Veblen, ‘Instinct of Workmanship’.

76. Veblen, Theory of Leisure Class, 26–7.

77. A criticism of Veblen is that he treated work aversion as a cultural phenomenon and failed to identify its linkages with the type and quality of work present within capitalist society. Indeed, Veblen adopted a benign attitude to the industry of capitalism and was neglectful of the negative impact of machinery and technology on workers’ lives. See Hodgson, Evolution of Institutional Economics, 216–21.

78. Lutz and Lux, Challenge of Humanistic Economics; Lutz, Economics for the Common Good.

79. Boyer and Smith, ‘The Development’.

80. Green, Demanding Work, 13–15; Brown et al., ‘Job Quality’.

81. Kaufman, ‘Expanding the Behavorial Foundations’; Altman, ‘Behavioral Model’.

82. Spencer, Political Economy of Work.

83. Sayers, ‘Why Work?’.

84. Lutz and Lux, Challenge of Humanistic Economics; Kaufman, ‘Industrial Relations’.

85. Green, Demanding Work.

86. Spencer, Political Economy of Work.