Many thanks to Erik Thompson.  I found the fuller version more enlightening.

Surprising that Bernard Weisberger and Marshall Steinbaum, authors of 
the piece, don't find the claims they attribute to Richard Ely and his 
young associates regarding the fate of labor rather one-sided.  I find 
it a good thing that the young Turks were forced by circumstances to 
moderate their initial radical views on behalf of labor, including:

"Since workers need jobs to feed their families, they cannot withhold 
their labor from the market when demand is scarce in order to sustain 
high wages.  That forces them to bear the brunt of recurrent, severe 
recessions by suffering wage cuts" (p. 11) and "a recession reduces 
demand for labor by definition, which contributes to the power imbalance 
favoring employers inherent to the labor market" (p. 12).

Nowhere is it observed that employers also incur losses from recessions, 
even as the authors write: "Ely recognized wage stickiness as well."  It 
is such wage stickiness that creates the forced saving, benefiting 
profit earners (and increasing employment) when prices rise in a boom 
and losses (and increased unemployment) when prices fall (or their 
growth rate decreases) in a recession.  This is a classical economic 
principle Alfred Marshall, Irving Fisher, and Frank Taussig subsequently 
restated. Ely and his young associates' affinity to the German 
Historical School, in rebellion to classical deductive analysis, may 
have been a hindrance to their even-handedness in considering the fate 
of labor.

James Ahiakpor

Erik Thomson wrote:
>
> The fuller version is in /Democracy./
>
> //
>
> http://democracyjournal.org/magazine/40/economists-of-the-world-unite/
>
> Erik Thomson
>
> *From:*Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> *On Behalf Of *Humberto Barreto
> *Sent:* December-05-16 12:37 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* [SHOE] DISC -- History of the AEA
>
> I would be interested in thoughts and reactions to this:
>
> http://www.chronicle.com/article/When-Economics-Was-Radical/238539
>
> Humberto Barreto
>


-- 
James C.W. Ahiakpor, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Economics
California State University, East Bay
Hayward, CA 94542
510-885-3137
510-885-7175 (Fax; Not Private)