Egon Matzner

Barriers to full employment

Introduction - List of Participants - PART 1 THEORETICAL BARRIERS TO FULL EMPLOYMENT - Wage Costs and Employment: the Sraffian View A.Roncaglia, Comment J.Schneider - The Theory of Demand and Supply of Labour: The Post-Keynesian View J.A.Kregel, Comment R.A.Hart - New Information Theoretic Approaches to Labour Market Theory E.Streissler, Comment K.Rothschild - PART 2 FINANCIAL MARKETS AND FISCAL POLICY - Financial Markets, Investment and Employment P.Davidson, Comments S.Biasco & M.Sawyer - Fiscal and Monetary Policy in the Keynes-Kalecki Tradition A.Guger & E.Walterskirchen, Comments B.Holmlund & H-P.Spahn - PART 3 PUBLIC LABOUR MARKET POLICY - The Role of Manpower Policy in the Swedish Model R.Meidner, Comments W.R.Dymond & G.Schmid - PART 4 WELFARE STATE REGULATION, INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, TECHNOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT - The Welfare State and Jobs R.Delorme, Comments M.Miegel, C.Buchtemann & G.Voruba - Industrial Relations and Unemployment: The Case for Flexible Corporatism D.Soskice, Comment W.Streeck - New Technologies and Employment in the Eighties: From Science and Technology to Macroeconomic Modelling R.Boyer, Comment A.Sorge - Environmental Problems and Employment Opportunities B.Schefold, Comments P.Nijkamp & K.Zimmerman - PART 5 THE INTERPLAY OF ECONOMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS - The Interplay between Institutional and Material Factors N.Georgescu-Roege, Comments F.W.Scharpf & M.Salvati - PART 6 A SUMMING UP AND CONCLUSIONS - New Lines of Research on the Question of Full Employment J.Steindl - Index

Introduction to the special issues on situational analysis

Although two earlier issues of Philosophy of the Social Sciences (PSS) have been devoted to a specific book by Karl Popper-The Open Society and Its Enemies (see PSS December 1996 and March 1997)-this and a following issue are instead devoted to a theme in Popper’s work, namely, situational analysis. The articles were originally written for a workshop on &dquo;Popper’s Situational Analysis and the Social Sciences,&dquo; which took place in October 1997 in Vienna and was organized by the Research Unit for Socioeconomics at the Austrian Academy of the Sciences. The three goals of the workshop, according to the invitation issued to the participants, were the following: to inform about the status of situational analysis in the different social sciences, to investigate why situational analysis had not made more of an impact on the various social sciences, and to outline the potential contribution of Popper’s ideas on situational analysis to the different social sciences.

Labour market effects of new technology

Abstract The labour market effects of modern technology are a constant source of scientific and public debate. Since new technology can produce different employment effects at various levels in the economy, a research framework which takes these complexities into account is required. The ‘Meta Study’-labour market impacts of new technologies-has been carried out on the introduction and use of modern technology in West Germany, and applied various methods to investigate the direct and indirect employment effects of new technologies at different levels of the economy. The methods employed by the participating research institutes (see Appendix) ranged from detailed enterprise-level case-studies to the use of highly aggregated economic macro models. Particular attention was therefore given to the integration of micro information into a macroeconomic context. This article presents some results of the ‘Meta Study’ and concentrates on quantitative employment effects, changing skill requirements and adjustment processes in the labour market.

The Socioeconomic Context An Alternative Approach to Popper's Situational Analysis

This article raises the question of whether standard economics with the general equilibrium model at its core applies situational analysis in a Popperian sense. Contrary to Poppers own view, the authors come to the conclusion that this is not the case. Standard economics fails to represent elements essential to any social situation in an adequate manner. It comprises uncertainty, time and space, social interaction, unintended effects, as well as culture and institutions. The authors suggest, therefore, the socioeconomic context as an alternative approach to analyzing social situations. It consists of four basic elements: (1) dominant worldviews, (2) institutions and technologies, (3) relative prices, and (4) political instruments. The alternative approach was applied with some success to analyzing inter alia problems of unemployment as well as of transformation.

Arguments for a Re-regulation of Global Finance

Today, nobody remains unaffected by what is happening on international financial markets. Directly or indirectly, everybody’s life chances are influenced: winners or losers of stabilisation policy in rich countries, financial crisis victims in Latin America, Asia or Russia, or people in Africa forgotten by the wealthy countries. And yet, few people have a clear grasp of the key financial processes—not even the economic ‘experts’. Most economists content themselves with esoteric models. ‘Analysts’ comment on surface phenomena (prices and balances, new commodities and technologies, etc). Little explanation is offered regarding exchange rates, credits, shares and bonds, or on the flood of ‘derived’ securities called ‘derivatives’ and their connections with traditional currency, monetary and fiscal policy. The traditional market-ideology based explanations spread by textbooks, but also by documents and analyses of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the OECD and the EU, can hardly be considered satisfying.

Beyond Keynesianism: The Socio-Economics of Production and Full Employment.

On effective supply conditions on effective labour market and social policy on effective demand conditions towards a context enhancing full employment.

Consequences and preconditions of retarded economic growth

Abstract A dramatic reduction of growth of g.n.p. presupposes a corresponding fall in net investment. It creates unemployment and a fall in the share of profits with the danger of social and political instability. Any strategy for a policy of reduced growth compatible with democratic institutions has to include measures against their adverse effects. A compensatory intervention by substituting investment demand for an increased output for the public sector is suggested, which, however, amounts to a change in the power structure in society.