Re:The story of Henry Ford's $5 a day wages: not what you th...
by mjw1007 on Sunday March 15, 2020 @01:58PM
(#22585204)
He could be doing both.
NB I have no reason to suppose the story is actually true. Very likely it isn't.
But the motivation the story claims Ford had does make sense. He was in a position to influence other employers' decisions by reputation, not just via the price mechanism.
If there's one equilibrium where factory workers in general end up as unskilled labourers, and another where they end up as skilled, the latter is better for Ford because of the products he happens to sell.
NB I have no reason to suppose the story is actually true. Very likely it isn't.
But the motivation the story claims Ford had does make sense. He was in a position to influence other employers' decisions by reputation, not just via the price mechanism.
If there's one equilibrium where factory workers in general end up as unskilled labourers, and another where they end up as skilled, the latter is better for Ford because of the products he happens to sell.