by the Sandwichman
It's official. Bear shits in woods. Sandwichman knew this was coming -- surprised only that it took all of two weeks or so for the proverbial lump-of-textbook-legend fatuity to appear. The troubles in France can be traced to the French populace's unshakeable belief in an idea that cannot withstand a nanosecond of thought, that there's only so much work to go round.
Cookie-cutter "libertarian" think-tank clone Allister Heath asks the perennial question, Is France ungovernable? He finds the redoubtable lump at the heart of the matter:
"At the heart of the French protests is a refusal to acknowledge economic reality.... Given their idiosyncratic ideology, it is little surprise that most French voters dont want to have anything to do with even modest free-market reforms. They appear to believe in the lump of labour fallacy that there is only a given amount of work to be done, that the government must share it around by restricting working hours, and keep out competition from overseas by erecting trade barriers. This view has also badly damaged the work ethic."
Silly French! If only they had faith-based faith, along with Cal Thomas, that "Capitalism — with its associated free market — will [solve their problems]."
Never mind the fact that "there is no relationship between the amount of employment protection in different countries and their unemployment rate." Say what? Mark Weisbrot inconveniently points out that there is no empirical support for the idea that job protection for workers is incompatible with low unemployment. This is not to say that the French job contract system couldn't be improved. Only that the rationale for the current reforms is full of baloney (as is the claim of a lump of labor fallacy). But as I say, never mind facts. "Economic reality" is not about facts; it's about faith in capitalism. But even more than that it's about blind faith in what the hired-help free-market snake-oil salesmen say about capitalism.
Meanwhile, Rick Wolff over at MRzine wonders if the French student-worker alliance "will mature into a movement for an alternative to capitalism."
Allister Heath
Deputy Editor, The Business
aheath@thebusiness.press.net
Dear Allister,
Thank you so much for restoring my faith in the predictability of knee-jerk, right-wing libertarian politico-economic commentary. The "lump-of-labour fallacy" -- har-har-har, hardy-har-har!
Do you have any idea that the "lump-of-labour fallacy" canard is bullshit? Probably not. It a piece of time-tested textbook lore and that's good enough for the likes of you who think that if it confirms your initial prejudices, it's just got to be true. It's bullshit. B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T, bullshit. What reasonable person would believe that the amount of work to be done is fixed, that there's "only so much work to go round"? Obviously, no reasonable person would believe that, therefore (so the textbook argument goes) no reasonable person could believe that reducing the hours of work could possibly create jobs.
There are just two problems with the textbook argument. It comes from nobody in particular and it is explained by too many mutually-exclusive rationales. In fact, I have shown that the lump-of-labour fallacy claim is a pastiche of various bits and pieces of jargon and argument that don't ultimately add up to the claim that is ritualistically made in its name.
The charge that the French believe in a lump-of-labour fallacy is intellectually-lazy name calling that arises because you either don't have the evidence or don't know enough about the issues to make the case for your argument. I would be so grateful to you if you could validate the claim of a lump-of-labour fallacy. I've offered a CASH PRIZE of $5,000 (Canadian) in the past and no one has taken me up on it yet. All you would have to do is first, prove that it is not possible, under any circumstances, to create jobs through a policy of reducing the hours of work and second, prove that your argument is consistent with a previously published statement of the so-called lump-of-labour fallacy that you can verify as authoritative.
I should point out that the preceding cannot be done and I will elaborate on just one reason why it cannot. If the existing hours of work are excessive from the standpoint of physiological or psychological fatigue, reducing the hours of work is a "technological improvement" that can, ceteris paribus, result in an increase in total output. "Ah-ha!" You may say. "If total output is increased by shorter hours that means that the same output could be produced with fewer workers and therefore shorter hours would destroy rather than create jobs!" But if you do say that you have fallen into a trap, because of the conviction that "technology creates more jobs than it destroys," which is, of course, the basis (or, at least, one of the bases) of the observation that there is NOT a fixed amount of work.
Now, either you are consistent in your avowal of the assertion of a non-fixed amount of work or you may wish to argue that "under certain circumstances" the rule doesn't apply. There are further arguments dealing with those special circumstances that I will pass over for the time being. Suffice it to say that it would be a most remarkable achievement -- tantamount to squaring the circle or turning lead to gold -- if you were to validate the lump-of-labour fallacy claim. It would be worth a great deal more than my modest $5,000 prize, let me assure you. May I caution, though, that mere repetition does not constitute validation. Simply saying that Paul Samuelson or Richard Layard put it in a book it doesn't make it so.
Tom Walker
AKA the Sandwichman