IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/eujhet/v26y2019i1p129-156.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A fundamental externality in the labour market? Ragnar Frisch on the socially optimal amount of work

Author

Listed:
  • Agnar Sandmo

Abstract

In the late 1940s, Ragnar Frisch published two articles in Norwegian that constitute a pioneering attempt to apply welfare economics to a problem of economic policy. The main contention of the articles is that there exists a fundamental externality in the labour market because the marginal productivity of labour depends both on input in the individual unit and on total labour use in the economy. While inspired by the problems of post-war reconstruction, Frisch came to regard it as a general problem in a decentralized economy, and he explores its consequences for wage and tax policy. While Frisch attached great importance to the analysis, it has received little attention in the subsequent literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Agnar Sandmo, 2019. "A fundamental externality in the labour market? Ragnar Frisch on the socially optimal amount of work," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 129-156, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:26:y:2019:i:1:p:129-156
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2018.1555608
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09672567.2018.1555608
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09672567.2018.1555608?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anonymous, 1949. "Economic and Social Council," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 673-689, November.
    2. Agnar Sandmo, 1993. "Ragnar Frisch on the Optimal Diet," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 313-327, Summer.
    3. Anonymous, 1949. "Economic and Social Council," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 114-129, February.
    4. John S. Chipman, 1970. "External Economies of Scale and Competitive Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 347-385.
    5. Ragnar Frisch, 1950. "Alfred Marshall's Theory of Value," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 64(4), pages 495-524.
    6. Francis M. Bator, 1958. "The Anatomy of Market Failure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 72(3), pages 351-379.
    7. Anonymous, 1949. "Economic and Social Council," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 307-319, May.
    8. Olav Bjerkholt & Ariane Dupont, 2010. "Ragnar Frisch's Conception of Econometrics," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 21-73, Spring.
    9. Anonymous, 1949. "Economic and Social Council," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 501-515, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dominique Hachette, 2004. "Algunos Problemas Económicos Latinoamericanos durante el Siglo XX," Documentos de Trabajo 275, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    2. Otero, Jesús, 2011. "The Long-Run Behaviour of the Terms of Trade between Primary Commodities and Manufactures," WIDER Working Paper Series 071, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Waldheim, Kurt, 1977. "Address delivered by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim at the Seventeenth Session of the Economic Commission for Latin America," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), June.
    4. John E. Tilton, 2013. "Cyclical and Secular Determinants of Productivity in the Copper, Aluminum, Iron Ore, and Coal Industries," Working Papers 2013-11, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    5. Iglesias, Enrique V., 1977. "Address delivered by the Executive Secretary of ECLAC at the Seventeenth Session of the Economic Commission for Latin America," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), June.
    6. Ana Iregui & Jesús Otero, 2013. "The long-run behaviour of the terms of trade between primary commodities and manufactures: a panel data approach," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 12(1), pages 35-56, April.
    7. Sebastian-Ilie DRAGOE, 2016. "Inequality Fragility Hypothesis," Expert Journal of Economics, Sprint Investify, vol. 4(2), pages 34-52.
    8. Baker, Zackary, 2018. "An Analysis of the United States Bank of Pennsylvania (1836‐1841)," Studies in Applied Economics 101, The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise.
    9. -, 1977. "CEPAL Review no.3," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), June.
    10. Rodríguez, Octavio, 1977. "On the conception of the centre-periphery system," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), June.
    11. Prasad, Ajnesh & Holzinger, Ingo, 2013. "Seeing through smoke and mirrors: A critical analysis of marketing CSR," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1915-1921.
    12. Ricardo Flores-Fillol & Rosella Nicolini, "undated". "Aerotropolis: an aviation-linked space," Working Papers 283, Barcelona School of Economics.
    13. Élodie Bertrand, 2006. "La thèse d'efficience du « théorème de Coase ». Quelle critique de la microéconomie ?," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(5), pages 983-1007.
    14. Marco FRIGERIO & Daniela VANDONE, 2018. "Virtuous or Vicious? Development Banks in Europe," Departmental Working Papers 2018-07, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    15. Wiser, R. H., 2000. "The role of public policy in emerging green power markets: an analysis of marketer preferences," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 177-212, June.
    16. Nathalie Berta, 2016. "On the definition of externality as a missing market," Post-Print halshs-01277990, HAL.
    17. Wilson, Wesley W., 1985. "Interstate Commerce commission regulation of motor carriers operating in the state of WAshington: An historical perspective," Transportation Research Forum Proceedings 1980s 311745, Transportation Research Forum.
    18. Marek Wigier, 2015. "Results of Support for Agriculture during the CAP Implementation in Poland," Oblik i finansi, Institute of Accounting and Finance, issue 1, pages 134-144, March.
    19. Andre Nassif & Carmem Aparecida Feijo & Eliane Araújo, 2016. "Structural change, catching up and falling behind in the BRICS: A comparative analysis based on trade pattern and Thirlwall’s Law," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 69(279), pages 373-421.
    20. Marciano, Alain, 2011. "Buchanan on externalities: An exercise in applied subjectivism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 280-289.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:26:y:2019:i:1:p:129-156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/REJH20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.