|
The wage–fund doctrine is an expression that comes from early economic theory that seeks to show that the amount of money a worker earns in wages, paid to them from a fixed amount of funds available to employers each year (capital), is determined by the relationship of wages and capital to any changes in population. In the words of J. R. McCulloch,〔''Wages'' in ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (4th edn 1823)〕 The economists who first stated this relationship assumed that the amount of capital available in a given year to pay wages was an unchanging amount. So they thought that as the population changed so too would the wages of workers. If the population increased, but the amount of money available to pay as wages stayed the same, the results might be all workers would make less, or if one worker made more, another would have to make less to make up for it and workers would struggle to earn enough money to provide for basic living requirements. Later economists determined that the relationship of capital and wages was more complex than originally thought. This is because capital in a given year is not necessarily a fixed amount. The Wage–fund doctrine model would be seen as less important in economic theory than later ones. ==Model== : In essence, wage–fund doctrine states that workers’ wages are determined by a ratio of capital to the population of available workers. In this model, there is a fixed amount of capital available to pay for the costs of production and the wages necessary to sustain workers in the time between the start of production and the sale of production output. Capital may change from year to year, but only as a result of reinvesting the prior year’s savings. “The wage-fund, therefore, may be greater or less at another time, but at the time taken it is definite.” (Walker) Population is the endogenous variable affecting wages. As the working population changes, the available wage moves in the opposite direction. Additionally, because capital is fixed, “the whole of (fund ) is distributed without loss; and the average amount received by each laborer is, therefore, precisely determined by the ratio existing between the wage-fund and the number of laborers.” (Walker) If one worker earns more, another worker must earn less to compensate. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wage–fund doctrine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|