Nonfinancial Economics: The Case for Shorter Hours of Work

by Eugene Mccarthy, William McGuaghey

Overview

This book is written in support of proposals to reduce work time in order to improve employment opportunities. The authors, both of whom have been deeply involved in shorter workweek policy debates, argue that the failure of the U.S. to enact shorter workweek legislation when it was first proposed in the late 1950s was a significant policy mistake. They argue further that reduced work hours are an effective means to full employment, improved income distribution, and a stronger consumer market—in addition to promising a better life to the contemporary American family. Policymakers concerned with employment issues as well as trade union officials and students of industrial relations will find here a new framework of ideas to support the renewed consideration of shorter workweek legislation.

The authors approach their subject by analyzing the consequences of the U.S. rejection of shorter workweek proposals over the past 30 years. Among them, they contend, are an increasing polarization of incomes, the devotion of more and more resources to the support of economic waste, and a continuing problem with unemployment. The current preoccupation with dollar-denominated growth (a legacy from the Great Depression) has produced a debt-ridden system which increasingly fails to accomodate people's real needs: hence, the authors call for a nonfinancial analysis of economic questions. Taken as a whole, this volume offers both an eloquent defense of leisure and a cogent analysis of the beneficial economic effects of the institution of a shorter workweek or longer annual vacation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275925147
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/19/1989
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)
Lexile:	1380L (what's this?)

About the Author

EUGENE McCARTHY, during his long and distinguished career, has been at the forefront of policy discussions involving the shorter work week

WILLIAM McGAUGHEY, a CPA, is a cost accountant for a public transportation agency. His previous works include A Shorter Workweek in the 1980s.

Table of Contents

Introduction
An Economic and Political View: Unemployment and the Economics of Waste
The Bankruptcy of U.S. Employment Policy
The Productivity Factor
The Employment Factor
The Hours Factor
Output: Useful or Waste
Some Common Varieties of Waste
Shaking the Waste Out of this Economy
An Economy Built on Money and Debt
Micro and Macro Effects of Reduced Hours
International Work-Sharing
Historical and Theological View
A Short History of Shorter Working Hours
Work, Leisure, Philosophy, Ideology and their Perversions
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

The authors argue for reduced work hours. Based on employment and standard-of-living changes in the US since 1952, on an analysis of the economics of waste, and on a concept of leisure as a form of prosperity, their conclusion is that reduced work hours would provide employment for more people, would stimulate the economy with increased leisure spending, and can only be effected by federal government intervention. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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