Escape from the market : negotiating work in Lancashire
This book questions the idea that wages were set by thoroughgoing competition in the heyday of laissez-faire capitalism. Drawing on the experience of workers during industrialisation, this book shows that workers and firms have good reasons to fix wages independently of market fluctuations.
History
xviii, 222 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
9780521561518, 0521561515
33947113
List of figures; List of tables; Preface; Glossary; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction: the myth of the Lancashire labour market; Part I. Labour Market Failure?: 2. Custom against the market: the early labour market; 3. Principals and agents: the labour market into the second generation; 4. Who's minding the mill? The supervision problem; Part II. The Economics of Piece-Rate Bargaining: 5. The fair wage model; Part III. How Did Labour Markets Really Work?: 6. Fair and unfair wages: 1825–50; 7. Short hours and seniority in the 'hungry 'forties'; 8. Rules and standards: wage lists in Lancashire; Part IV. Conclusion: 9. More lessons from the cotton mills; Notes; Bibliography; Index.