Showing papers on "Rivalry published in 1979"

Wage determination in an economy with many trade unions

Abstract: ONE of the interesting 'stylised facts' about wage determination in a unionised economy is the apparent interdependence between trade unions' wage claims. There are many names for this ubiquitous phenomenon'pattern bargaining' or 'the wage transfer mechanism', to name but twoand much empirical evidence on its importance,2 but there has been little theoretical analysis of the phenomenon. This is surprising, particularly when it is borne in mind that numerous economists3 have pointed to the significance of imitative union behaviour in the process of wage inflation. Some of these writers, in fact, most notably Wiles [34], have gone as far as to suggest that there may not be an equilibrium set of wage rates in a modern, unionised economy-essentially, it is argued, because of the inevitable rivalry between laboirr groups over issues of 'fair' differentials and 'wage parity'. In a field where economic and sociological forces are unquestionably intertwined, no explicit theoretical framework has as yet emerged. This paper attempts, fairly tentatively, to sketch a simple theoretical analysis of wage determination in an economy with many trade unions. While the first part of the paper is concerned with the microeconomics of imitative union wage policies, a primary purpose of the paper's later sections is to examine the notion and possible existence of wage equilibrium in an economy where several trade unions exist. The crucial but elusive links between individual inter-union wage reactions and the general equilibrium structure of wage rates should become clear as the paper progresses. If an explanation of an economic phenomenon such as union claims for wage parity is to be attempted along classic and conventional economic lines, it seems necessary to begin with a model posited upon optimal behaviour by the relevant decision making agents. In this case we might expect these agents to be trade unions, firms and, perhaps, the government. Throughout this paper unions are assumed to be rational agents, in the sense

Preempting an Alert Rival: Strategic Timing of the First Plant by Analysis of Sophisticated Rivalry

Abstract: This paper examines the strategic rivalry in a duopoly where firms must correctly time the construction of the first plant in a growing market. We explicitly model rivalry for market share. Firms recognize the effect of the rival's actions on their profits; they behave noncooperatively to maximize discounted profits over the infinite horizon. For the timing problem we develop an appropriate solution concept. It is a Nash equilibrium in the space of sequential decision rules which specify each firm's correct action as a function of the state of the world. We then show how the equilibrium can be computed by backward induction dynamic programming. Numerical examples illustrate the sequential Nash solution and characterize the rivalry to be the first to build. Parametric analysis of the example enables us to explore the competitive dynamics of capacity choice in new markets.

The Contradictions of Professionalism: Scientists, Trade Unionism and the First World War:

Abstract: The 1914-18 war had a profound effect upon the professional identity and self-esteem of scientists and engineers in Europe. For the growing community of young science graduates, many or them products of university expansion after 1890, the experience of working together on urgent problems of direct applicability to the war effort raised immediate questions of status and recognition. in Britain, the 'national interest' and international rivalry had prompted the expansion in science numbers; but who would ensure that the 'pay and prospects' problem which had beset the angry pre-war years would not revive once the emergency ended? To secure scientists and engineers an economic future, and a political say in scientific affairs, became the goal of several militant associations. From 1917, riding the crest of the wave of trades unionism and industrial reorganiz, ion occurring m the country generally, these militant groups drew variously on university researchers, industrial scientists and technical experts in g...

Professional Militarism in Twentieth-Century Peru: Historical and Theoretical Background to the Golpe de Estado of 1968

Abstract: M /[OST discussions of background to the Peruvian golpe de estado of 1968 and the regime it introduced emphasize the immediate causes. These stress the military-APRA "rivalry," economic nationalism as a guiding doctrine of officers educated at the Centro de Altos Estudios Militares (CAEM), and rising hostility of officers toward civilian political leaders. Some suggest a hazily defined "leftward drift" of the officer class toward a neo-Marxist, corporatist position on socioeconomic development and political organization based on elimination of the possibility of revolution from below.' Basic to this line of reasoning is the linking of national defense to economic development and internal security, owing to fears that insurgent movements in the Andes during the 1960s might repeat the Cuban experience, thus destroying the military profession in the name of social justice. This may suffice in a general and immediate sense, but it raises several questions that beg for answers. First, was hostility toward civilian leaders linked solely to military-APRA mutual distrust, or was it a historical theme with variations? Second, were economic nationalism and developmentalism phenomena of recent origin, or were they traditionally a part of military ideology? Third, was interest in all phases of modernization symptomatic of a

The Rivalry Between Frederick Douglass and Henry Highland Garnet

Abstract: When the historian George Washington Williams heard Garnet speak, he glowingly proclaimed Garnet to be the \"equal in ability to Frederick Douglass especially excelling in logic and terse statement.\"1I Not only was Garnet the equal of Douglass, but he was also an intellectual catalyst for Douglass. In the view of a former editor of the Journal of Negro History, \"Garnet created the idea which Frederick Douglass tempered and presented to the world in a more palliative and acceptable form.\"2 The latter statement of William Brewer is true enough but does not communicate the infighting, passionate conflict and mutual suspicions which came to generate permanent dislikes among black abolitionists. As a consequence, the historical importance of the peers of Frederick Douglass has become obscured over the years, particularly for Garnet, whom many considered too radical in his own lifetime and about whom the early historians in the field likewise felt uneasy.3 \"Ah sir,\" Garnet wrote to Douglass in September 1849, \"the green-eyed monster has made you mad. Pardon me, when I tell you that you never imbibed a spirit so narrow from any dark son of our native Maryland, living or dead.\"4 Douglass likewise wrote disparagingly of Garnet. Incensed at Garnet's altered views on emancipation and civil rights and anxious about his projected trip to England in that year (England was a vital source of funds for Douglass' newspaper), Douglass wrote to Harriet Beecher Stowe that educated men of the Russwurm, Garnet, Ward and Crummel stamp had no stomach for continuing the struggle against prejudice and ignorance in this country, and thus it was that they sought more congenial places where they could live peaceful and quiet lives.5 What then was the reality underlying these denunciations and antagonisms? The rest of this paper seeks to describe that reality. The two statements suggest a genuine rivalry between the Douglass forces, that is the black followers of William Lloyd Garrison, and those who rallied around Garnet, though this is to simplify somewhat for purposes of illustration. The rivalry was in turn a struggle for the control over the minds of the black community in the United States, and it reflected sharply diverging views as to the best means of ending slavery, segregation and second-class citizenship. The views, then, which Garnet presented to Doug-

Dependence as an Approach to Understanding Continuing Inequalities in Africa

Abstract: What comes out of Africa is neither new nor exciting, nor seeming likely to be such, but what is old, predictable and boring. The liberating nationalism of twenty and thirty years ago was nearly always a joyful lift to the spirit .... The formative experience of Africa's under-30s is one of deepening crisis apparently beyond cure by any familiar remedy: whether . . . in a painfully large and spreading gap between the few rich and many poor, or in political systems which falter or collapse, or in the broadening shadow of interstate rivalry and oonflict. More and more often, from all I hear, there is a new consciousness of choice: that Africa must revolutionize itself and soon: or go, and sooner, entirely to the devil.'

The Anglo-German Trade Rivalry, 1887-1913: A Counterfactual Outcome and its Implications

Abstract: We are probably fools not to find a reason for declaring war on Germany before she builds too many ships and takes away our trade. Arthur Balfour 1907. Projecting economic variables is a difficult art but one which statesmen practice with relish. In parliamentary democracies it is a rare candidate who does not forecast that under his tenure the pots of the electors will be graced with chickens. A more sober, careful kind of forecasting is required in conducing foreign affairs. Sound judgments about tariffs, subsidies, military and naval force levels, and even alliances depend upon prior analysis of the effects of each such policy over some specified length of run. Although one suspects that some kind of forecasting was always a part of statecraft, industrialization in Western Europe necessitated a change in the time frame of the predictions of statesmen. As the pace of economic change quickened, the rate at which the economic and military potential of states might change also accelerated. For many Englishmen observing the growth of the German economy during the 1890s, learning this lesson produced more than a little anxiety. So great was the attention which the British gave to German economic growth that predictions of Germany’s overtaking of Britain came to be a staple item of British politics in the two decades before World War One. Should these predictions have been taken seriously by contemporaries? The best answer is that given by the outcome of the pre-1914 Anglo-German rivalry: Germany did not overtake Britain in that era. Because war intervened, we cannot know the outcome of continued peaceful economic rivalry, but by using a relatively new statistical method we can chart the course this rivalry may well have followed had the peace been kept in 1914. Our projections suggest a sequence of events that never occurred but may nonetheless be used as a guide in evaluating the views and expectations of contemporaries.

The Developing Crisis

Abstract: The Agreement of 5 August, 1890, far from resolving matters in West Africa became itself a source of continuing controversy and acrimony. This was perhaps inevitable given the generally suspicious and rancorous nature of the relationship between Britain and France in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. French antipathy toward England which so struck many observers was rooted in a variety of causes. Many Frenchmen were convinced of a British “tilt” toward the Triple Alliance1 and indeed viewed Britain as the “fourth partner in the concern.”2 Commercial rivalry was also endemic with France increasingly fearful that a combination of Manchester textiles and the world’s greatest navy would collect all the rewards in the era of global rivalry that appeared to be dawning.3

Local governmental competition for business activity: an urban case study

Abstract: Urban governments frequently compete with each other in their efforts to attract new business enterprises that would contribute needed jobs and tax revenues. The results of this competition, however, often depend upon the bargaining resources available to the adversaries. The rivalry between South Bend and an adjacent municipal jurisdiction for a Sears department store provides an example of how differing resources may influence the outcome of such competition and how in general the process is biased toward suburban locations.

Socioeconomic Rivalry and National Competence in Ivory Coast.

Abstract: Ivory Coast, a highly multilingual nation, continues to use French as the exclusive national language. Since French is seen as the key to economic advancement, and access to French has varied ethnically, Ivorians were expected to display sensitivity to variation in French competence, as people have shown toward linguistic variation in Canada and the United States. A modified matched guise technique, adapted to local circumstances, tested three groups of adult men (10 each): no formal education, primary school, and tenth grade. Comparison of the identity of the guises and the judgments of the respondents implied that achievement judgments were made first; ethnic labels were assigned later according to ethnic stereotypes, rather than the reverse. The study showed the emergence of positive norms, but not negative ones, in contrast to the Canadian and U.S. experiments, where social prejudices resulted in strong negative judgments as well. The results emphasize the importance of economic factors in overcoming potentially disruptive ethnolinguistic divisions.

Aspects of the reign of Muzaffar al-Din Shah of Persia 1896-1907.

Abstract: This thesis is concerned with certain aspects of the reign of Muzaffar al-Din Shah of Persia from 1896 to 1907; during the last year of which Persia ceased to be an absolute monarchy and adopted a constitution. The thesis first of all discusses the value of various British archives for the study of this period. It goes on to consider the character of Muzaffar al-Din and the nature of government during his reign. Two particular organs of government are-studied in detail: the army and the Customs administration, which was then undergoing reform at the hands of Belgian experts. The diffusion of cholera throughout Persia in 1904 is described, and the effects of that epidemic are discussed. The thesis then turns to a study of the political and economic circumstances which prevailed in the two important provinces of Fars and Isfahan. The thesis shows that there was much discontent in Persia, and it notes that few of the sources of that discontent were new., It is seen that members of the religious classes played an important part in events throughout the period. It is shown that the government of Muzaffar al- Din Shah was weak, that it failed to exercise effective central control, and that it was incapable of meeting the demands made upon it. It is argued that Anglo-Russian rivalry had a considerable impact on domestic events, and that that rivalry increased the problems facing the country, while at the same time it revealed to many Persians the extent of the government's weakness. It is concluded that although many demands were being made of the Shah and his government, they were not essentially incompatible with the continuation of absolute rule.

House Counsel versus Outside Counsel

Abstract: It is often mentioned that some rivalry does exist between lawyers in general practice and house counsel.1 Theoretically the existence of the company legal department could make the employment of outside counsel unnecessary. But this theory has not been proved correct, because even in companies with a large, highly developed and specialized legal department there is still a wide field of activity for outside counsel. Even a well staffed and well-organized law department cannot supply all the legal services required by a large company and its affiliates. Therefore company lawyers are making increasingly more effective use of outside counsel. It should not be overlooked that there are discussions on this subject, especially in countries where jurists, working in company legal departments as employees of the company, are admitted to the bar, as in the USA, the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany But also in countries where jurists with a permanent employee-relationship to their company cannot be admitted to the bar, the attorneys at law sometimes tend to look at the members of legal departments as competitors who take away prospective work from them. It is not necessary to mention that this is not the case and that this opinion prevails with practitioners who do not work regularly with company legal departments. Outside law firms are frequently used and have proved most useful to industry. Instead of rivalry, which fortunately is disappearing a natural division of labour has developed — work of one nature is handled almost exclusively by house counsel and work of another nature is turned over almost exclusively to the law firms.2

The Fundamental Political Problems

Abstract: Many of the political conflicts that have manifested themselves in international organisations resemble those that have been fought out in political institutions from time immemorial, and about which political philosophers have debated and dissented for centuries: disputes between liberals and authoritarians, conservatives and socialists, believers in big government and in little government. Though often wrapped up in the cruder war-paint of national rivalry and ideological conflict (just as within states the conflict of abstract principles is often transmitted into the slogans and platforms of individual parties or classes), almost identical principles have been involved.