Chapman and a theory of labor

rdan

Sandwichman is serializing Chapman’s theory on hours of labour at Econospeak. The abstract is below. Part 2 is posted today, Nov. 4.

Abstract: Sidney Chapman’s theory of the hours of labour, published in 1909 in The Economic Journal, was acknowledged as authoritative by the leading economists of the day. It provided important insights into the prospects for market rationality with respect to work time arrangements and hinted at a profound immanent critique of economists’ excessive concern with external wealth. Chapman’s theory was consigned to obscurity by mathematical analyses that reverted heedlessly to outdated and naïve assumptions about the connection between hours and output. The Sandwichman is serializing “Missing: the strange disappearance of S. J. Chapman’s theory of the hours of labour” on EconoSpeak in celebration of the centenary of publication of Chapman’s theory. (To download the entire article in a pdf file, click on the article title.)

The theory of labor has been shortchanged in today’s world.

Update: link to Econospeak fixed.