Download Labor Issues in the Food System: Impact on Productivity, Wages, and Worker Safety and more Study notes Biology in PDF only on Docsity! Labor Issues in the Food System I. Intro. A. Relationship between food markets and labor markets one of the oldest topics in economics--lies at the heart of the debate in classical economics 1. What were the great debates of the classical economists about? Impact of food price on price of labor --e.g., trade protection--role of the corn laws 2. Ricardian food bottleneck lay at heart of dynamics of Classical economics, as well as debates of Malthus and Marx B. In a developmental context: 1. Robert Fogel’s claim that about 40% of incrase in labora productivity in Britain over 40 years due to better nutrition--implications for development. 2. Currently, debates in developing countries about a. Impact of food prices (a function of costs of marketing) on labor productivity b. Impact on incentives for non-food cropping activities (cash cropping, non-farm enterprises)--e.g., (1) Work by Jayne et al. (2) Models by de Janvry and Sadoulet 3. In industrialized countries, the role of labor in food system also extremely important, not so much the impact of the food market on labor mareket, Docsity.com AEC 841--Module 4E--Labor Issues Page 2 but vice versa--large labor input into value added of food and the impact of decisions regarding labor policy, both on and off farm on: a. Food prices and availability b. Worker welfare c. Today for industrialized countries, we will focus primarily on role of labor in off-farm segments of the food system; Friday, Dr. Rochin focuses more on on-farm segment. C. Importance of Labor in the Food System D. Supply side: 1. Numbers and Value Added by segment of the food industy--Overheads 2. 1992 figures a. Approx. 91% of food system employment off the farm Docsity.com AEC 841--Module 4E--Labor Issues Page 5 2. Consumer tastes--towards more labor-intensive products, like fruits, vegetables, and poultry 3. Macro policy a. Debt burden and consequent pressure to cut costs emanating from (1) High interest costs of 1970s (2) Merger-induced debt b. Trade policy--e.g., factor equalization theorem. Relate to Robert Reich's theories regarding 3 classes of workers (routine production services, in-person services, and symbolic-analytic services). c. Widening gap between different groups of workers--e.g., between poorly educated and those with a lot of skills. d. Immigration policy--e.g., impact of Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1985 on weakening UFW. Mechanization vs. Mexicanization of agriculture (Rochin) 4. Labor policy--e.g., more pro-management stand of Republicans; current debate in Michigan on reform of unemployment insurance. IV. Demand side: How labor market functioning affects food access and how food markets affect functioning of labor markets: A. Basic Ricardian food bottleneck. How food prices (and hence productivity throughout the food system) affects labor costs and hence competitiveness. Docsity.com AEC 841--Module 4E--Labor Issues Page 6 B. Importance of well-functioning food markets to induce specialization and willingness to work off-farm. Willingness to work for cash rather than food. C. Importance of non-farm income as a way of getting access to food. Both in urban AND rural areas. (FS II results). Docsity.com
