Comish, N. H., The Standard of Living. By Helène Reynard Dibblee, G. B., The Psychological Theory of Value. By D. H. Robertson ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Fisher, Mrs. H. A. L., The Economic Position of the Married Woman. Keynes, J. M., Monetary Reform. By R. G. Hawtrey. Lavergne, B., Les coopératives de la consommation en France. By L. Lord, J., Capital and Steam-power, 1750-1800. By T. S. Ashton Lowenfeld, H., The Birthright of Man. By J. Lemberger Moreland, W. H., From Akbar to Aurangzeb. By Sir Theodore Morison Nippold, O., The Development of International Law after the World War. By J. L. Brierly Pigou, A. C., Essays in Applied Economics. By Henry Higgs ... ... ... ... ... PAGE 106 610 112 Robertson, D. H., The Ebb and Flow of Unemployment. By N. B. Dearle 444 ... ... ... Thurnwald, R., Die Gestaltung der Wirtschaftsentwicklung. By Prof. 249 115 252 ... 96 269 243 123 614 Venn, J. A., Foundations of Agricultural Economics. By C. S. Orwin ... Williams, G., Social Aspects of Industrial Problems. By Barbara ... Wolf, J., Markkurs, Reparationen und russisches Geschäft. By T. E. Back, W. J., The Attack upon the Organiser Class Leppington, C. H. d'E., The War's Influence upon Village Life Meredith, Prof. H. O., The Irish Fiscal Inquiry Moreland, W. H., Economic Conditions in Mogul India Robertson, D. H., Note on the Real Ratio of International Interchange Tocker, A. H., The Effects of the Trade Cycle in New Zealand OFFICIAL PA ... ... 138, 292, 655 OBITUA B Prof. A. Loria Prof. A. Loria By J. M. Keynes eo. By P. S. and Prof. A. Loria ENT TOPICS 486 654 311 140, 294, 486 ND NEW BOOKS www 145, 3088 erpool, B THE ECONOMIC JO MARCH, 1924 THE POST-WAR WAGES PROBLEM 1 I BEFORE the war the economic changes to which wages had to be adjusted were gradual. Rates of wages, therefore, had a high degree of stability, and the relations between wages in allied or neighbouring occupations were equally stable. Wages, it may fairly be said, constituted a system, since there were well-understood rates for most occupations; the relations between these were stable and generally accepted, and a change in any one rate would prompt demands for a change in other rates. It was this systematic character of wages that made wage changes so simple a problem compared with to-day's task. The abstract and unanswerable general problem, What is a fair wage? never came up; the problem was always the problem of a particular rate for a particular job. This was argued by reference to the normal relation between the rate for that job and other rates, and to relevant economic changes that might justify a departure from that normal relation. A change in the value of money might make necessary a whole series of changes in rates of money wages, in order to restore the previous relation between different trades, or between wages and profits; but the problem was limited to modifying an established system of rates, so as to keep it in harmony with the economic facts on which wages ultimately rest. This modification itself was done largely by collective bargaining, for the individual employer or wage-earner, not by him; the ordinary employer had to work to conditions of employment which were set for him. Hence the wage system lent some of its own stability to prices, which, even more than wages, have got out of step since the war. The effect of the war was to dislocate this system and destroy 1 Paper read before Section F of the British Association at Liverpool, September, 1923. No. 133.-VOL. XXXIV. B |