. . . and plagiarism among the economics textbook authors I think I've located the locus classicus for the "Lump of Labour fallacy" and the so-called fallacy ain't what the textbook authors said it was. There's an 1891 article in the Economic Review by David F. Schloss, "Why Working Men dislike Piece-Work", in which he presented what he called the Lump of Labour theory and argued that it was a fallacy. The argument was recylcled in Schloss's book, _Methods of Industrial Remuneration_, on pages 44-47. Oddly enough, Schloss disavowed his argument having anything to do with the length of the working day! He was discussing the objections to piece-work. Here's what Schloss said in _Methods of Industrial Remuneration_ about the length of the working day: "With the question of the length of the working-day we have nothing to do. Still, I shall not conceal my opinion that the claim of the working-classes to possess an amount of leisure adequate for the purposes of rest, of education, and of recreation is one in an eminent degree deserving of recognition. But, while a reduction of the hours of labour -- say, to eight in the day -- may readily be admitted to be, on grounds both economic and social, highly desirable, yet it is no less desirable that during those eight hours every working-man in the country shall, using the best available tools and machinery, and performing as much labour as he can perform without exerting himself to an extent prejudicial to his health or inconsistent with his reasonable comfort, produce as large an output as possible. . ." Schloss's account has much more in common with Frederick Taylor's discussion of "systematic soldiering" than it does with any of the contemporary retorts to the argument that shortening the hours of work can alleviate unemployment. In fact, both Schloss and Taylor make offhand references to the idea that getting workers to work as efficiently as possible serves the cause of shorter work time. Perhaps there is indeed a Say's Law for apologist textbook authors: the supply of misinformation and plagiarism creates its own demand. Tom Walker http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
