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Manpower, Labor Absorption, and Employment in Colombia

An Alternative Viewpoint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David T. Geithman
David T. Geithman*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Business, Russell Sage College, Troy, New York 12180
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Extract

The Zudak paper (1976) restates in the Colombian context, without adding much that is new, some of the difficulties inherent in defining for practical applications the capital, labor, and output variables. He decides that the output-to-capital ratio in the case of Colombia is about .6 rather than .5 as suggested by Geithman and Landers in an earlier article in this journal (1973). Zudak concludes that the Colombian unemployment problem might best be managed by (1) improving the operation of the labor market, which Geithman-Landers advocated earlier, and (2) reducing the length of the work week. The latter suggestion, he apparently argues, is preferable to other possible policy responses to the employment situation recommended by Geithman-Landers. These consist primarily of (a) the development of additional labor-using production processes in the modern sector to expand the range of technical substitutability in that sector; (b) an active policy of income redistributton in the direction of greater equality in order to spur the demand for traditional sector output and dampen the demand for modern sector goods; and (c) a serious move toward land redistribution and reform as one available means of loosening the country's capital constraint.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , May 1976 , pp. 237 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1976

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References

Adelman, I. (1973) “Development economics–a reassessment of goals.” Amer. Econ. Rev. 65 (May): 302–309.Google Scholar
Geithman, D. T. (1975) Unemployment and Economic Development: Manpower Theory and Policy Recommendations. Morristown, N.J.: General Learning Press.Google Scholar
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Zudak, L. S. (1976) “Manpower, labor absorption, and employment in Colombia: a comment.” J. of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs (May)–this issue.Google Scholar