Wages, Productivity, and Work Intensity in the Great Depression

Darby, Julia; Hart, Robert A.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.323597

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Wages, Productivity, and Work Intensity in the Great Depression

24 Pages Posted: 29 Aug 2002

See all articles by Julia Darby

Julia Darby

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow - Strathclyde Business School - Department of Economics

Robert A. Hart

University of Stirling - Department of Economics; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Date Written: August 2002

Abstract

We show that U.S. manufacturing wages during the Great Depression were importantly determined by forces on firms' intensive margins. Short-run changes in work intensity and the longer-term goal of restoring full potential productivity combined to influence real wage growth. By contrast, the external effects of unemployment and replacement rates had much less impact. Empirical work is undertaken against the background of an efficient bargaining model that embraces employment, hours of work and work intensity.

Keywords: Wages, Productivity, Work Intensity, Great Depression

JEL Classification: J24, J31, N62

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Darby, Julia and Hart, Robert A., Wages, Productivity, and Work Intensity in the Great Depression (August 2002). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=323597 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.323597