Lou is absolutely correct in his economics -- which means that I agree
with him -- but you, Lou, are wrong to personalize your note by
challenging Brad personally.
On Sun, Apr 29, 2001 at 12:33:25PM -0400, Louis Proyect wrote:
> >No. Wage levels in open developing countries have been increasing
> >rapidly over the past two generations, and so (with the exception of
> >the United States and New Zealand) have wage levels in industrial
> >countries...
> >
> >
> >Brad DeLong
>
> Of course wages have been going up. You start with zero when you are a
> subsistence farmer living outside the cash economy. When a Colombian
> peasant, who grew his own food and traded the surplus for manufactured
> goods in a village plaza, gets thrown off his land and takes a job in
> factory, he has more money than he ever had but he is poorer than ever.
> That is why there is rebellion in Colombia. Peasants want to return to the
> days when they could live off the land. Of course, those who end up in a
> factory are the fortunate exception. Most Latin American or African
> ex-peasants end up in the "informal economy" which means prostitution,
> drug-peddling, shoe-shining, hawking chewing gum or fruit, etc. This is the
> social layer that formed the base of the Sandinista revolution
> coincidentally. In any case, I'd love to see somebody like DeLong go work
> in a maquila factory for a year or so, like his fellow Berkeley prof
> Michael Burawoy does. Then at least, his interventions on leftwing mailing
> lists might come across less as propaganda, and more like lived experience.
>
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
