Overhead labour and bounded substitutability
SummaryIn this paper we argue that due to the presence of quasi-fixed overhead labour, the aggregate short-run production function of the industry has the property of bounded substitutability. That is, when employing overhead labour, the industry will only be able to earn a positive quasi-rent for a bounded interval of aggregate labour intensity.
The idea of environmental welfare economics.
J.J. Krabbe, The idea of environmental welfare economics. Wageningen, 1989 (x + 73p. fig.) This study focuses on systematic alterations of the production factor nature in the course of time. At issue are the repercussions of the process of depletion of natural stocks and the consequences of the pollution process on the one hand, and the implications of the various forms of technological development on the other. The model concerned contains three categories of production factor: land, raw materials and labour. The derived factor capital is not mentioned explicitly. The static basic model used can be characterized as 'dualistic', in the sense that prices as well as quantities are endogenous. The parameters of the model in its static form are: the total quantities of production factors applied, the figures characterizing the faculties of the production factors represented, and the figures determining the welfare function. Some of these parameters are variables in the 'dynamicized' model. It appears to be possible to extend the model so that multifunctional use of land is reflected. It also appears to be possible to formulate the basic model as a location model, in accordance with the Thünen tradition. Progress in environmental technology is considered to be factor-sparing. In this concept two components are distinguished. The first is the factor-saving element, in the Hicksian sense. The second component is connected with the change of the factor share in the income, and is determined by substitution elasticities in the sphere of production. An important aspect is the phenomenon of eliminating the unpaid function of the factor nature. The function concerned is the contribution of 'traditional' agriculture and forestry to the preservation of nature. It is apparent that an internalizing of this function is socially constructive. From an environmental point of view, three policy scenarios must be designed, directed to the restructuring of industry, the stimulation of environmental technology, and the adaption of the institutional framework of production and consumption. The institutional alterations must be such that labour is comparatively cheap, in order to minimize the substitution of raw materials for labour. Two types of preservation policy can be distinguished: a complementary policy and an interventionist policy. The first is included in the rational considerations about the size of government production. The latter is necessary to bring goals in private production into line with social goals.
Professional tensions in client-centered practice: using institutional ethnography to generate understanding and transformation.
For almost 20 years, occupational therapists have advocated client-centered practice. Yet client-centered practice is fraught with tensions that arise outside the practice of individual occupational therapists. This paper is guided by two questions: What produces professional tensions in client-centered practice? and What understanding and change might be generated using institutional ethnography? The sociological theory and method of institutional ethnography are described using data from an ongoing investigation of mental health services as a social institution. Illustrated are the research aim, research questions, and institutional analysis that distinguish institutional ethnography from conventional ethnography. Two professional tensions are associated with attempts to fulfill client-centered practice in mental health. One is that of working at cross-purposes with the prevailing hierarchical structure; the other tension is that of being celebrated yet subordinated in the medical and management hierarchies of health services. Although client-centered practice is difficult to do, the authors recommend institutional ethnography as a research approach to generate understanding and transformation of the context and practice of occupational therapy.