WANG Kun;HAO Yubiao;

• 1:School of Economics
• 2: Capital University of Economics and Business

Abstract：

In recent years, the global economy has faced increasingly severe risks of recession, with sluggish economic growth and persistently high unemployment rates. Unemployment has become a major issue of concern for governments and scholars worldwide. At the same time, the intensity of labor for those employed has continued to increase, and despite the lack of significant wage growth, many positions remain highly competitive. In the context of overlapping types of unemployment, the efficiency wage theory, which focuses on wage rigidity, struggles to provide a comprehensive explanation for the persistent unemployment problem. In contrast, the labor discipline model, based on the perspective of the labor process, offers a more complete analytical framework. This paper systematically integrates the labor discipline model for the first time, traces its intellectual origins, and summarizes a labor extraction function that can characterize general employment relationships. It also presents the basic logic of model construction from the perspectives of neoclassical, radical, and Kaleckian schools. The Kaleckian labor discipline model provides a reasonable explanation for the coexistence of different types of unemployment and offers a unified theoretical framework for studying the complex unemployment issues of today. It holds the potential to lead the way for innovative development in labor discipline models.

Key Words： efficiency wages;labor intensity;equilibrium unemployment;labor discipline model

Abstract:

Keywords:

Foundation: 国家社会科学基金重点项目“国际发展共同体视域下中国产业链安全保障机制构建研究”(21AGJ008)的资助

Authors: WANG Kun;HAO Yubiao;

References：

• 鲁保林.2013.利润挤压和利润非挤压：理论与实证[J].教学与研究，(9):47-54.LU B L.2013.Profit squeeze and non profit squeeze:Theory and empirical evidence[J].Teaching and Research,(9):47-54.(in Chinese)
• 卢荻，李思沛，高岭，等.2022.纳入劳动强度的中国经济增长核算[J].世界经济，45(7):3-26.LU D,LI S P,GAO L,et al.2022.China's economic growth accounting incorporating labor intensity[J].The Journal of World Economy,45(7):3-26.(in Chinese)
• 马克思，恩格斯.2001.马克思恩格斯全集(第44卷)[M].2版.中共中央马克思恩格斯列宁斯大林著作编译局，译.北京：人民出版社.
• 徐春华.2025.劳动强度与区域经济增长——一个农村劳动力价值低估的政治经济学视角[J].厦门大学学报(哲学社会科学版),75(1):75-88.XU C H.2025.Labor intensity and regional economic growth:An analytical perspective on underestimating the value of rural labor force[J].Journal of Xiamen University (Arts & Social Sciences),75(1):75-88.(in Chinese)
• 杨金阳，周应恒，严斌剑.2014.劳动力市场分割、保留工资与“知识失业”[J].人口学刊，36(5):25-36.YANG J Y,ZHOU Y H,YAN B J.2014.Labor market segregation,reservation wage and “Educated Unemployment”[J].Population Journal,36(5):25-36.(in Chinese)
• 张丹丹，李力行，童晨.2018.最低工资、流动人口失业与犯罪[J].经济学(季刊),17(3):1035-1054.ZHANG D D,LI L X,TONG C.2018.Minimum wage,rural migrants' unemployment,and crime[J].China Economic Quarterly,17(3):1035-1054.(in Chinese)
• 张琼，李想，江飞涛.2024.最低工资与就业效应异质性：大样本证据与可能解释[J].经济学家，(3):108-117.ZHANG Q,LI X,JIANG F T.2024.Minimum wage and heterogeneous employment effect:Large sample evidence and possible explanations[J].Economist,(3):108-117.(in Chinese)
• AKERLOF G A,YELLEN J Y.1986.Efficiency wage models of the labor market[M].Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
• ALCHIAN A A,DEMSETZ H.1972.Production,information costs,and economic organization[J].The American Economic Review,62(5):777-795.
• BODDY R,CROTTY J.1975.Class conflict and Macro-policy:The political business cycle[J].Review of Radical Political Economics,7(1):1-19.
• BOWLES S.1985.The production process in a competitive economy:Walrasian,neo-Hobbesian,and Marxian models[J].The American Economic Review,75(1):16-36.
• BOWLES S.2004.Microeconomics:Behavior,institutions,and evolution[M].Princeton:Princeton University Press.
• BOWLES S,BOYER R.1988.Labor discipline and aggregate demand:A macroeconomic model[J].The American Economic Review,78(2):395-400.
• BOWLES S,EDWARDS R,ROOSEVELT F,et al.2017.Understanding capitalism:Competition,command,and change[M].4th ed.Oxford:Oxford University Press.
• BOWLES S,GINTIS H.1988.Contested exchange:Political economy and modern economic theory[J].The American Economic Review,78(2):145-150.
• BOWLES S,GINTIS H.1990.Contested exchange:New microfoundations for the political economy of capitalism[J].Politics & Society,18(2):165-222.
• BOWLES S,HALLIDAY S D.2022.Microeconomics:Competition,conflict,and coordination[M].Oxford:Oxford University Press.
• BRANDOLINI A.1995.In search of a stylised fact:Do real wages exhibit a consistent pattern of cyclical variability[J].Journal of Economic Surveys,9(2):103-163.
• BULOW J I,SUMMERS L H.1986.A theory of dual labor markets with application to industrial policy,discrimination,and Keynesian unemployment[J].Journal of Labor Economics,4(3):376-414.
• DUNLOP J T.1938.The movement of real and money wage rates[J].The Economic Journal,48(191):413-434.
• EATWELL J.1983.The long-period theory of employment[J].Cambridge Journal of Economics,7(3/4):269-285.
• FAIRRIS D.2004.Towards a theory of work intensity[J].Eastern Economic Journal,30(4):587-601.
• GINTIS H,GINTIS H.1976.The nature of labor exchange and the theory of capitalist production[J].Review of Radical Political Economics,8(2):36-54.
• GINTIS H,ISHIKAWA T.1987.Wages,work intensity,and unemployment[J].Journal of the Japanese and International Economies,1(2):195-228.
• KALECKI M.1943.Political aspects of full employment[J].The Political Quarterly,14(4):322-330.
• KALECKI M.1971.Class struggle and the distribution of national income[J].Kyklos,24(1):1-9.
• LAVOIE M.1992.Foundations of post-Keynesian economic analysis[M].Cheltenham:Edward Elgar Publishing.
• LAVOIE M.2022.Post-Keynesian economics:New foundations[M].2nd ed.Cheltenham:Edward Elgar Publishing.
• MALINVAUD E.1998.Macroeconomic theory (Volume B)[M].Amsterdam:North-Holland.
• MARGLIN S A.1974.What do bosses do?The origins and functions of hierarchy in Capitalist production[J].Review of Radical Political Economics,6(2):60-112.
• MARGLIN S A,SCHOR J B.1990.The golden age of capitalism:Reinterpreting the postwar experience[M].Oxford:Clarendon Press.
• NAPLES M I.1986.The unraveling of the Union-Capital Truce and the U.S.industrial productivity crisis[J].Review of Radical Political Economics,18(1/2):110-131.
• NIKIFOROS M.2017.Uncertainty and contradiction:An essay on the business cycle[J].Review of Radical Political Economics,49(2):247-264.
• PETRI F.2021.Microeconomics for the critical mind:Mainstream and heterodox analyses[M].Cham:Springer.
• REBITZER J B.1987.Unemployment,long-term employment relations,and productivity growth[J].The Review of Economics and Statistics,69(4):627-635.
• ROBINSON J.1975.Collected economic papers (Volume III)[M].London:Basil Blackwell.
• SCHOR J B,BOWLES S.1987.Employment rents and the incidence of strikes[J].The Review of Economics and Statistics,69(4):584-592.
• SHAPIRO C,STIGLITZ J E.1984.Equilibrium unemployment as a worker discipline device[J].The American Economic Review,74(3):433-444.
• SOLOW R M.1979.Another possible source of wage stickiness[J].Journal of Macroeconomics,1(1):79-82.
• TARSHIS L.1938.Real wages in the United States and Great Britain[J].Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science,4(3):362-376.
• WEBB S.1912.The economic theory of a legal minimum wage[J].Journal of Political Economy,20(10):973-998.
• WEEKS J.1979.The process of accumulation and the “Profit-Squeeze” hypothesis[J].Science & Society,43(3):259-280.
• WEISSKOPF T E,BOWLES S,GORDON D M,et al.1983.Hearts and minds:A social model of U.S.productivity growth[J].Brookings Papers on Economic Activity,1983(2):381-450.
• YELLEN J L.1984.Efficiency wage models of unemployment[J].The American Economic Review,74(2):200-205.
• ZUBOFF S.2022.Surveillance capitalism or democracy?The death match of institutional orders and the politics of knowledge in our information civilization[J].Organization Theory,3(4):1-79.