Loaded Dice

Professor Wolf claims to be the first to set forth the general “theory and logic” of wage incentives. Actually his book is largely a manipulated set of case studies designed to prove the iniquity of incentive wage plans.

First, he loads the dice by omitting all discussion of wage incentives in sales or supervisory jobs, where they have proved particularly successful. Confining himself to factory workers, Wolf distorts the picture further by contrasting the effects of new incentive systems with old time-payment conditions. Naturally, he finds that wage incentives disrupt existing relations, disturb workers, create problems, etc. An adequate study of incentives Would also have investigated plants that shifted from incentive to time payments, and found out whether any disruption occurred then. The point is that any change in procedure is apt to create problems.

MR

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Murray N. Rothbard

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Professor Wolf claims to be the first to set forth the general “theory and logic” of wage incentives. Actually his book is largely a manipulated set of case studies designed to prove the iniquity of incentive wage plans.

First, he loads the dice by omitting all discussion of wage incentives in sales or supervisory jobs, where they have proved particularly successful. Confining himself to factory workers, Wolf distorts the picture further by contrasting the effects of new incentive systems with old time-payment conditions. Naturally, he finds that wage incentives disrupt existing relations, disturb workers, create problems, etc. An adequate study of incentives Would also have investigated plants that shifted from incentive to time payments, and found out whether any disruption occurred then. The point is that any change in procedure is apt to create problems.