ALBERT

Notes: Piore and Sabel's concept of flexible specialisation (FS) has initiated a lively debate between‘optimists’,‘pessimists’and ‘sceptics’. The potential impact of FS on work organisation and skills is examined through a review of industry case studies with discussion of the implications for management, government and unions with respect to training policy.

Notes: Scandinavian trade unions have been trying to influence the introduction of new technology in the work process since the early seventies. Recently, the most progressive unions have initiated their own research projects aimed at developing alternative technologies. This article discusses two examples.

Notes: Canadian labour laws ban lawful work stoppages while collective agreements are in force. Managerial prerogative generally governs technological change. Employees lawfully enjoy varying, but limited job security. Current laws may not deal adequately with the next wave of technology. Significantly, four jurisdictions provide midcontract arbitration.

Notes: This article reviews the flexible specialisation debate in the context of the clothing industry in the West Midlands. It questions the central importance given to the introduction of technology in the recent restructuring of the industry and argues that such changes do not necessarily benefit the workforce.

Notes: Trade unions have generally found it difficult to exercise influence over the process of technological change and its effect on the conditions and content of work. This article seeks to identify the circumstances under which unions may be able to gain access to the decision-making process and in turn shape the organisational outcomes of new technology.

Notes: The article by Claire Shearman and Gibson Burrell which was published in this journal, Autumn 1988 (Vol. 3 No. 2) provoked an immediate response. Here Ray Oakey and Roy Rothwell exercise their right of reply. This is followed by a response from the authors who defend their original article.

Notes: Book reviewed in this articleThe Japanization of british IndustryTechnological Change at WorkThe Meaning of Work and Technological OptionsManaging the Adoption of New TechnologyThe Individual, Work and Organisation

Notes: This article reviews recent studies of new technology and industrial relations and indicates four main areas for future research. The author concludes that more attention should be devoted to the technology itself, and that industrial relations research could usefully incorporate many recent insights and developments in industrial sociology.

Notes: CAD has been described as a‘Trojan horse’through which drawing office work will be deskilled. This article rebuts the crude Tayloris-ation thesis which underlines such views and offers an alternative analysis of the effects of CAD.

Notes: This article examines the relationships between microelectronics and manpower in Chinese enterprises in the context of the economic reforms. It focuses on skills and training developments and the potential for technology transfer.

Notes: Managements often fail to deal with problems of reorganising work to cope with technical change. Nevertheless, it is suggested that skills are becoming more enterprise-specific and that employers should train to satisfy their own needs. While markets help to distribute skills, they do not ensure that sufficient are created.

Notes: Numerous studies conclude that technological and organizational innovations are mutually supportive. Yet Canadian evidence shows a relative lack of emphasis on the crucial organizational dimensions of the innovation process. This article examines the results of a survey of technological and organizational change in 1,000 establishments and discusses reasons for the relative neglect of organizational factors.

Notes: In view of high unemployment, one major issue of concern within the German population is the impact of new technology on the labour market. This article examines the problem of determining and predicting effects of technological change on employment and discusses the development of job structure, work organisation and skill requirements.

Notes: This article challenges conventional theories on the role of NTBFs in the growth of new industries. Its‘community dynamics’approach is an alternative to the SPRU model of‘dynamic complementaries’and argues that while NTBFs are crucial, their capacity for employment generation is low.

Notes: Book reviewed in this articleThe Management of Innovation in High-Technology Small FirmsComputer Chips and Paper Clips Technology and Women's Employment Volume II Case Studies and Policy PerspectivesNew Office Information Technology: Human and Managerial ImplicationsApprasing and Exploring OrganisationsThe Human Side of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Notes: This article is based on a three-year study of the introduction and use of computer numerically controlled machine tools (CNC) into nine engineering companies. It rejects the view that technology determines job design and instead highlights the role of managerial values and competence and organisations’own structures and practices.

Notes: This article, based on a study of workers, engineers and managers in a sample of high technology firms in the US, suggests extensive skill dislocation, labour market segmentation and a lack of participation in production decisions. There is a crisis of organisation and commitment among employees in such firms.

Notes: Here the author examines the problems, in adopting new technology, faced by small firms in Japan's machinery industry. A significant part of the concern about the technology gap between large and small firms is attributed to their respective capacities to recruit and train skilled labour.

Notes: The impact of Japanese competition has led to attempts by Western organisations to implement elements of Japanese management. The process has been described as‘Japanisation’. Here the authors examine the Japanisation of Rank Xerox and Xerox Corporation. Xerox has benefitted from the learning experience of its Japanese joint venture, Fuji Xerox, and has been described as the most‘Japanised’of Western companies.

Notes: Information technology makes possible working patterns with flexibility in location and time. But traditional assumptions of managerial control serve as a strong deterrent. This article deals with these issues through an analysis of interviews at ICL and Texaco UK, with managers and high-level employees who work partially at home. Rank Xerox networkers are used as a point of comparison.

Notes: Book review in this ArticleInnovation, Entrepreneurs and Regional DevelopmentThe Challenge of New TechnologyNew Technology and the Process of Labour RegulationWomen and Information TechnologyComputerising work; people, systems design and workplace relationsBenetton: Information Technology in Production and Distribution: a Case Study of the Innovative Potential of Traditional Sectors

Notes: Competition from Japanese manufacturers has been particularly fierce in the automotive industry. Consequently, many British manufacturers are now emulating the production and employment policies of their Japanese rivals. But there are limits to such a process, especially in the sphere of labour-management relations and the control of work.

Notes: The clothing industry has been saved largely as a result of the introduction of new technology in response to an increasingly competitive market place. But what affect has this restructuring had upon jobs? We explore how women workers have experienced this change and why policy-making should consider job design.

Notes: The findings from a study of the consequences of the introduction of CAD† on the organisation of work in three Swedish engineering companies are consistent with European empirical research but not with the predictions of either the advocates or critics of the technology. Here the author offers two possible explanations.

Notes: This article analyses the use made of computer based information systems in hospitality management. The findings indicate that, rather than replacing the middle management role, computer systems are used as support mechanisms which remove uncertainty associated with decisions based on hunch or inadequate information.

Notes: This article summarises features of the current debate over whether new technology upgrades or downgrades skill and knowledge requirements and reports on how 1,700 tradespeople (craftspeople) interviewed in 1983–85 in NSW, substantially reported an upgrading effect.

Notes: Many factors other than technology can influence the forms of work organisation at several key stages during the process of change. This article discusses developments in the design of intelligent knowledge-based systems (IKBS) and argues that these new forms of computerisation will undermine the position of a number of management functions in the enterprise.

Notes: This study describes the human and organizational implications of introducing robots into an Israeli plant. Findings point at several gaps between the perceptions of senior management, middle management and rank and file employees.

Notes: Book review in this ArticleInformation Technology; A Luddite AnalysisEnterprising InnovationThe Development of High Technology IndustriesUnions, Unemployment & InnovationSDI and Industrial Technology Policy

Notes: The attitudes and policy orientations of the West German unions to the development and utilisation of new technologies have changed substantially over the past three decades. Contemporary union policies are more critical and more politically oriented: the changes which they seek, to more successfully influence technological developments, have potentially crucial significance for the future character and stability of the West German industrial relations system.

Notes: This article examines the debate about whether new technology creates or displaces jobs. It emphasises the occupational dimension, in order to assess some of the policies relating to education, training and income distribution. Finally, the role of technological change is examined in terms of the quality of the resulting job structure and the issue of income and skill polarization.

Notes: In the past the NGA dominated the communications world of paper and ink. This domination is being undermined by the micro-processor revolution which is creating an alternative communications world based on electronic devices and in which the NGA presently has little influence. Here the author analyses the strategies and policies adopted by the NGA to retain its influence in the ‘shrinking’communications world of paper and to gain some influence in the new communications.

Notes: This article is based on a survey of manufacturing sites, and the relation between production innovation and skills provision strategies encountered therein. It discusses the ways in which trends towards process integration and product flexibility are encouraging moves away from the traditional dependence on ‘off-the-shelf’skills recruitment and towards a greater emphasis on training, often of a flexible and cross-disciplinary type.

Notes: The first issue of NTWE featured a piece on work organisation at the Swedish Mail Centre at Tomteboda. In the light of a recent visit there, the author responds to that original account.

Notes: Industrialised nations have responded to the recent impact of new technology either by planning within a corporatist framework, or by reacting to changes determined by ‘market forces’. Australia is moving from the second to the first strategy because of a combination of political and legal changes, building upon traditional institutions

Notes: Book review in this ArticleTechnology and the Human ProspectMachinery of Dominance, Women, Knowledge and Technical Know-howComputer Chips and Paper Clips, Volume 1Gender and the Labour ProcessTowards the Automatic Factory? The Need for TrainingManaging New TechnologyThe Silicon Society

Notes: Although trade unions have generally agreed TUC policy on new technology, they found it difficult to follow policy and make acceptance conditional. Economic circumstances, employer strategies and the structure of trade unions and collective bargaining, constrain the realisation of policy objectives. But there are also weaknesses in the policies themselves and the resources trade unions dedicate to new technology.

Notes: This article challenges the widespread concept of a ‘technological imperative’which is alleged to lead to greater economic efficiency. The socio-technical model, supported by evidence from past research and recent cases, undermines the validity of the ‘imperative’and presents an alternative based on choices.

Notes: Comparing a British with an American Flexible Manufacturing System highlights both differences in de facto and formal work organisation and the separate influence of overall management policies. Contrary to prevailing theories it is the practical resolution of these policies that either stifles or permits polyvalent, ‘autonomous’work-groups.

Notes: The introduction of new technologies combined with demanning policies has brought about a greater awareness of the importance of the collective dimensions of work. Research work, in France, has been investigating the notions of ‘work groups’* and ‘collective/group skills’. These are key issues concerned with the mastering of new technologies, and the creation of ‘new forms’of work organization, such as quality circles.

Notes: This article presents a detailed case study of changes in the job tasks of British Rail yard supervisors under the routine operation of a computerised system of freight information control in order to critically evaluate the claim that computer technology is contributing to the demise of first-line supervisors.

Notes: Book review in this ArticleSunrise EuropeNEDC Long-term perspectives group, IT Futures: What current forecasting literature says about the social impact of information technologyHuman Factors: Man, Machine and New TechnologyWorking the System: The Shop Floor and New Technology

Notes: This article identifies the avenues used by UK firms to acquire the work skills needed to operate the new technologies. Having found that retraining is the most popular avenue, the author turns to issues such as who identified the retraining needs, how they were met and with what degree of success. In the process, disturbing tendencies are discovered.

Notes: As technological change was a main item at the IIRA World Congress the author was invited to write a short report on it for NTWE

Notes: There has been much speculation about the future of work in moods ranging from euphoria to prophecies of doom. This article attempts to outline the undercurrents of change which will determine the reality behind this debate. It is based on analyses conducted for Work and Society, The Other Economic Summit and the Society for International Development.

Notes: Here the authors summarise the responses to new technology by employers, trade unions and governments from an international perspective and they identify the emerging trends on job displacement, workforce adjustment and new skill requirements in Western industrialised countries.

Notes: This article investigates effects of computerization in the Swedish insurance industry from 1960–1980. While the technological imperative dictates that many jobs would disappear, it was found that employment actually increased. The authors produce a model relating technology to employment levels and suggest that a range of moderating factors must be considered.

Notes: There is little systematic survey evidence so far on the attitudes and beliefs of those involved with new technology in small batch manufacturing. Here the authors present findings on the responses of management, trade unions and employees in an Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) work environment.

Notes: ‘High Technology’ firms constitute a significant growth sector in the UK. Such firms are often assumed to be non-union, with a paternalist style of management, providing a striking contrast to traditional industrial relations practices. Here the author assesses the current evidence.

Notes: This article examines how works councils in the West German automobile industry have influenced management approaches to technological change in three firms. The authors argue that while the post-war industrial relations consensus in Germany can be increasingly questioned, car-makers in the English speaking countries have important lessons to learn from their German counterparts.

Notes: New technology is increasingly being introduced into local government. Using a case study of a shire local authority, the author argues that information technology has already affected employment levels and has enhanced management efficiency.

Notes: Book review in this ArticleThe Management Implications of New Information Technology N. Piercy (ed.)High Technology Small Firms — Innovation and Regional Development in Britain and the United States R. OakeyFuture Work James Robertson Maurice Temple SmithTechnology, Work and Industrial Relations Russell D. Lansbury and Edward M. DavisReport of the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs Australian Government Publishing Service CanberraJapanese Employment and Employee Relations: An Annotated Bibliography Bill Ford, Millicent Easther and Ann Brewer Australian Government Publishing Service, CanberraTechnology and the Workforce: An Annotated Bibliography Bill Ford, Margaret Coffey and Dexter Dunphy Technology Research Unit, New South Wales Ministry of TechnologyTechnological Change: The Tripartite Response, 1982–85 Hedva Sarfati and Margaret CoveWork in the 1980s. Emanicipation and Derogation Bengt Ove Gustavsson, Jan Ch. Karlsson & Curt Räftegård

Notes: The ‘automated factory’ as the culmination of ingenuity has fascinated engineers and social visionaries (albeit for different reasons) for a considerable period. This article discusses the skill requirements of advanced automated production.

Notes: This article argues that social scientists need to develop a detailed understanding of ‘technology’, and its relationship to social variables, if the full impfication of new technologjes is to be adequately investigated. Material from research on telephone exchange modemisation in British Telecom is used to develop such an approach.

Notes: The United States, together with other advanced industrial societies is having to address the skill and training requirements which stem from occupational change as a result of technological innovation. This article examines the major labor questions for policy-makers in the USA now and in the near future.

Notes: This article discusses the concept of skill and, using material from case studies on non-manual work, suggests that the microelectronic technology may have implications for work and skills that in each case will depend on a combination of social and technological factors.

Notes: The Australian trade union movement has identified new technology as a major issue for the 1980s and beyond. This article examines ACTU policy on technological change in the light of the experience of two large Australian unions.

Notes: Draughtsmen could until recently legitimately be seen as a ‘white-collar craft’ group. This article examines the degree to which Computer-Aided Design is fragmenting the cohesiveness of the drawing office, and thus threatening to undermine the craft control which has been the basis of the strength of the union, AUEW/TASS.

Notes: An understanding of the changes taking place in Singapore's construction industry is not achieved simply by reference to ‘technological imperatives’. Changes in technology, work patterns and employment are closely bound up with the ideological orientations of the ruling elite. This article analyses these changes and examines the implications for the workforce.

Notes: This paper examines two approaches to the study of the implications of technological change for manpower and skill requirements. One is based on the development of taxonomies to classify different levels of automation of industrial processes. The other is based on the study of the competitive dynamics within industrial sectors.

Notes: Book reviewed in this article:The Information Technology Revolution Tom Forester, (ed.)Work, Unemployment and the New Technology Colin Gill, Polity PressThe Robotics Revolution Peter B. Scott.Manufacturing Systems: Context, Applications and Techniques Victor Bignell, Mike Dooner, John Hughes, Chris Pym and Sheila StoneJob Redesign: Critical Perspectives on the Labour Process David Knights, Hugh Wilmott and David Collinson

Notes: In 1983, the Swedish Post Office opened the most technically advanced mail centre in the world. Here the author describes how work is organised in this futuristically designed workplace.

Notes: AS long as economics is conceived as a purely formal science of human action (praxeology) the basic concepts and findings of such behavioral sciences as psychology, sociology and cultural anthropology will be considered as irrelevant for economic analysis. However, if economics is considered as an empirical (substantive) science which starts from actual human needs and places man's dependence upon and interaction with his natural and social environment in the center of its investigation, the basic concepts and conclusions of the behavioral sciences cannot be dispensed with.ZUSAMMENFASSUNGNationalökonomie und die Wissenschaften vom menschlichen Verhalten. So lange die Nationalökonomie als eine rein formale Wissenschaft vom menschlichen Handeln (Praxeologie) begriffen wird, erscheinen die grundlegenden Konzeptionen und Erkenntnisse der Verhaltenswissenschaften wie der Psychologie, der Soziologie und der Kulturanthropologie für die ökonomische Analyse als irrelevant. Wenn indessen die Nationalökonomie als wirklich empirische Wissenschaft betrachtet wird, die von den tatsächlichen menschlichen Bedürfnissen ausgeht und die Abhängigkeit des Individuums von seiner natürlichen und sozialen Umgebung sowie deren Wechselwirkung in den Mittelpunkt ihrer Forschungen stellt, so können die grundlegenden Konzeptionen und Folgerungen der Verhaltenswissenschaften nicht übergangen werden.RÉSUMÉĽ economie politique et les sciences du comportement humain. Tant que ľéconomie politique sera concue comme une science purement formelle de ľ action humaine (praxéologie), les concepts fondamentaux et les découvertes des sciences du comportement humain telles que la psychologie, la sociologie et ľ anthropologie culturelle seront considéréd comme de peu ď importance pour ľ analyse économique. Cependant, si ľéconomie politique est considérée comme une science effectivement empirique qui part des besoins humains réels et place la dépendance de ľ homme de son ambiance naturelle et sociale ainsi que ľ action réciproque de cette dernière au centre de ses recherches, les conceptions et conclusions fondamentales des sciences du comportement humain ne peuvent etre négligées.The question then arises as to the proper method by which the results of one field of inquiry can be utilized in another. Such integration is possible only if we find or formulate common denominator concepts sufficiently broad to contain and cut across the subject-matter of several social disciplines. Which particular concepts are likely to prove useful for a “substantive” science of economics depends upon the nature of the central research problems of contemporary economic analysis. Since these germinal questions of modern economics are all related to the behavior of social groups and of individuals acting as members of structured social entities the basic concepts and findings of social psychology and cultural anthropology are likely to prove most useful for the substantive-empirical economist.Having outlined the major concepts which have proved helpful in the analysis of group decisions and the individual-group relationship the article concludes by setting forth the thesis that a substantive science of economics must be conceived from the very outset as an integral part of a science of man and culture. Such a “humanization” of economics would have the task of placing the living human being once more in the center of economic analysis and, at the same time, would provide a starting point for the solution of the urgent task of integrating our contemporary knowledge about man and culture.Es stellt sich dann die Frage, durch welche Methode die Ergebnisse des einen Forschungsgebiets im andern verwendet werden können. Eine solche Integration ist nur dann möglich, wenn für die verschiedenen Konzeptionen gemeinsame Nenner gefunden oder formuliert werden können, die weit genug sind, um den Gegenstand verschiedener Sozialwissenschaften zu umfassen. Welche Konzeptionen sich für eine wirklich empirische Wissenschaft als nützlich erweisen dürften, hängt von der Natur der zentralen Forschungsprobleme der heutigen ökonomischen Analyse ab. Da alle diese grundlegenden Fragen der modernen National ökonomie sich auf das Verhalten sozialer Gruppen und des Einzelnen beziehen, die als Glieder sozialer Gebilde von bestimmter Struktur handeln, dürften die grundlegenden Konzeptionen und Erkenntnisse der Sozialpsychologie und der Kulturanthropologie für den empirischen Ökonomen von grossem Nutzen sein.Nach einer Skizzierung der hauptsächlichsten Konzeptionen, die sich für die Analyse von Gruppenentschlüssen und der Beziehung zwischen Individuum und Gruppe als nützlich erwiesen haben, wird die These aufgestellt, dass eine wirklich empirische Nationalökonomie von allem Anfang an als ein wesentlicher Teil einer Wissenschaft vom Menschen und der Kultur begriffen werden muss. Eine solche “Humanisierung” der Nationalökonomie hätte zur Aufgabe, den Menschen - so wie er in Wirklichkeit ist - in den Mittelpunkt der ökonomischen Analyse zu stellen, und würde gleichzeitig den Ausgangspunkt darstellen für die Lösung der dringenden Aufgabe, unser gegenwärtiges Wissen über den Menschen und die Kultur zu integrieren.La question se pose alors de savoir par quelle méthode les résultats ď un domaine de recherche peuvent etre utilisés dans ľ autre. Une telle intégration n'est possible que si nous trouvons ou formulons pour les différentes conceptions des dénomina-teurs communs suffisamment larges pour contenir ľ objet des diverses sciences sociales. Quelles sont les conceptions pouvant se révéler utiles pour une science réellement empirique, voilà qui dépend de la nature des problèmes majeurs de recherches de ľ analyse économique actuelle. Comme toutes ces questions fondamentales de ľéconomie politique moderne se rapportent au comportement de groupes sociaux et de particuliers agissant en tant que membres ď entités sociales ď une structure déterminée, les conceptions fondamentales et les découvertes de la psychologie sociale et de ľ anthropologie culturelle devraient etre ď une grande utilityé pour ľéconomiste empirique.Après avoir esquissé les principales conceptions qui se sont révelées utiles àľ analyse des décisions de groupes et des rapports entre ľ individu et le groupe, ľ article se termine par ľnonce de la these qu'une Economic politique reellement empirique doit etre concue des Tabord commcar; part intégrante ď une science de ľ homme et de la culture. Une telle “humanisation” de ľéconomie politique aurait pour tǎche de placer ľ homme - tel qu'il est en réalité - au centre de ľ analyse économique et représenterait simultanément le point de départ de la solution de la tǎche urgente consistant à intégrer notre connaissance actuelle de ľ homme et de la culture.

Notes: It is now sometimes being said that the food supply is becoming so elastic that men need no longer be apprehensive lest population growth affect their welfare adversely. This assertion respecting the elasticity of the food supply lacks empirical validity so far as most parts of the world are concerned. It is true, however, that in some countries food is no longer the operative population-limiting factor, and food may cease to be such in yet other countries. It does not follow, however, that population-limiting factors will cease to be operative. The dynamics of culture, production, and consumption serve to change the character of these factors, but they do not remove them. For if one factor ceases to be operative, its place is necessarily taken by others. Population growth may not affect adversely man's consumption of food or some other item of living supposedly in highly elastic supply; but then it is quite likely, in many empirical situations, to make his consumption of some other items of living lower than it otherwise would have been.〈section xml:id="abs1-2"〉〈title type="main"〉ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Beschrdnkende Faktoren in der Bevölkerungstheorie. Es wird heute bisweilen gesagt, das Nahrungsmittelangebot sei im Begriffe so elastisch zu werden, dass die Menschheit nicht mehr befürchten müsse, ihr Wohlstand werde durch das Wachstum der Bevölkerung beeinträchtigt. Die Behauptung hinsichtlich der Elastizität des Nahrungsmittelangebots entbehrt jedoch der empirischen Gültigkeit mit Bezug auf den Grossteil der Erde. Es ist allerdings richtig, dass in einigen Ländern die Nahrungsmittel das Bevölkerungswachstum nicht mehr wirksam beschränken, und dies mag künftig auch in andern Ländern der Fall sein. Daraus folgt jedoch nicht, dass überhaupt keine solch beschränkenden Faktoren mehr wirksam sind. Die Dynamik der Zivilisation, der Produktion und des Konsums tragen dazu bei, den Charakter dieser Faktoren zu ändern, aber sie beseitigen sie nicht. Denn sobald ein Faktor nicht mehr wirksam ist, treten notwendigerweise andere an seine Stelle. Es mag sein, dass der individuelle Verbrauch an Nahrungsmitteln oder irgendeines andern Artikels mit vermutlich sehr elastischem Angebot durch eine wachsende Bevölkerung keine Beeinträchtigung erfährt; aber dann ist es in manchen konkreten Situationen wahrscheinlich, dass der Verbrauch anderer Artikel geringer sein wird als er es sonst wäre.〈section xml:id="abs1-3"〉〈title type="main"〉RÉSUMÉFacteurs limitatifs dans la théorie de la population. Certains prétendent aujourd'hui que ľ offre des denrées alimentaires serait en voie de devenir si élastique que les hommes n'auraient plus à craindre que ľ accroissement de la population ne porte préjudice à leur bien-etre. Cette affirmation sur ľélasticité de ľ offre de nourriture manque de toute justification empirique, tout au moins en ce qui concerne la plus grande partie de la terre. II est cependant exact que dans certains pays la nourriture n'est plus un facteur limitant en fait ľ accroissement de la population et il pourrait en etre de meme a ľ avenir dans ď autres pays. II ne s'ensuit pas toutefois que les facteurs limitatifs cesseront ď agir. Ľévolution de la civilisation, celle de la production et de la consommation contribuent à modifier le caractère de ces facteurs, mais elles ne les éliminent pas, car aussitǒt qu'un facteur n'agit plus, ď autres se substituent nécessairement à lui. Ľ accroissement de la population peut ne pas affecter la consommation individuelle de denrées alimentaires ou tout autre bien de consommation dont ľ offre est présumée très élastique; mais il est alors probable que dans maintes situations concrètes la consommation ď autres biens sera plus faible que ce ne serait autrement le cas.

Notes: In recent years there has been a great development of interest in the principles and the problems of rational decision-making and rational action. Economists, mathematicians, statisticians, logicians, engineers, and philosophers have all addressed their efforts to various phases of the general problem of rationality. This paper attempts a provisional synthesis of their basic results so far, in the form of a suggested preliminary definition of rationality that is sufficiently general to be applicable in all circumstances.ZUSAMMENFASSUNGBeitrag zu einer allgemeinen Definition des rationalen Handelns In den letzten Jahren ist ein zunehmendes Interesse an den Grundlagen und den Problemen der rationalen Entschlussfassung und rationalen Handelns festzustellen. Ökonomen, Mathematiker, Statistiker, Logiker, Ingenieure und Philosophen haben ihre Anstrengungen auf verschiedene Phasen des allgemeinen Problems des Rationalen gerichtet. Die vorliegende Studie macht den Versuch einer vorläufigen Synthese der bisherigen grundlegenden Ergebnisse in Form einer vorläufigen Definition des Rationalen, die genügend allgemein ist, um unter jeglichen Bedingungen anwendbar zu sein.RÉSUMÉRecherche ď une définition générate de ľ ction rationnelle. Durant ces dernières années, ľ intéret s'est fortement accru pour les principes et les problèmes relatifs à la décision rationnelle et àľ action rationnelle. Des économistes, des mathématiciens, des statisticiens, des logiciens, des ingénieurs et des philosophes ont concentrés leurs efforts sur les différentes phases du probléme général de la rationalité. La présente étude constitue un essai de synthèse provisoire des résultats fondamentaux obtenus jusqu'ici, sous la forme ď une définition préliminaire de la rationalité, par ailleurs suffisamment générale pour etre applicable dans toutes les circonstances.The general definition of rationality, to be usable for “practical” decisionmaking, must take full cognizance of each of the following characteristics of the “real” world, at least: the time-dimension of action and of the consequences of the action; the multitudinous side-effects of an action; the inevitable uncertainty of the “actor” in connection with the alternatives of action open to him and the consequences of each of these; the costs of information-gathering; the costs of performing logical operations; the variety of the value-criteria of different actors; the changes in the value-criteria of any given actor over time; and the “tastes” of the actor in relation to time-preference, risk-taking, logical processes, and the facing of uncertainty. The definition of rationality should specify the course of action which, in the light of all these factors, is the “best” one.The present suggested definition outlines a “rational” procedure for choosing one from among the set of all known possible actions, where the word “action” refers to a particular time-sequence of (a) acting (in the usual sense), (b) information-gathering, and (c) logical analysis. The procedure consists, roughly, of these four steps: (1) the specification of the set of known possible actions; (2) the determination, for each of the actions, and using all available relevant information, of the set of all possible consequences of that action and their respective probabilities; (3) the evaluation, in the light of the relevant value-criteria, of each of the possible consequences of each of the possible actions; and (4) the derivation from (3) of the “correct” action to be adopted. In carrying out these steps we employ a logical construction patterned after those of Carnap, Hempel and Oppenheim.For the sake of greater understandability, the definition is presented in two stages. The appendix to this paper contains a (grossly oversimplified) illustration of the application of the definition.Die allgemeine Definition des Rationalen - soil sie für praktische Entschlüsse verwendbar sein - muss zumindest folgende Charakteristika der “realen” Welt voll berücksichtigen: die Zeitdimension einer Handlung und der Konsequenzen der Handlung; die zahlreichen Nebenwirkungen einer Handlung; die unvermeidliche Ungewissheit des Handelnden mit Bezug auf die ihm offenstehenden alternativen Handlungen und auf die Folgen jeder dieser Handlungen; die Kosten zusätzlicher Information; die Kosten des logischen Vorgehens; die Mannigfaltigkeit der Wertkriterien der verschiedenen Handelnden; die Rnderungen in den Wertkriterien eines Handelnden im Zeitverlauf; die Einstellung des Handelnden hinsichtlich Zeitpräferenz, Risikobereitschaft, logische Verfahren und Ungewissheit. Die Definition des Rationalen sollte jenen Ablauf des Handelns aufzeigen, der im Lichte aller dieser Faktoren der “beste” ist.Die hier vorgeschlagene Definition skizziert ein “rationales Verfahren für die Wahl einer Handlung unter all den bekannten möglichen Handlungen, wobei das Wort “Handlung” sich auf eine besondere Zeitfolge von Handeln (im üblichen Sinn), Information und logischer Analyse bezieht. Das Verfahren besteht, grob gesprochen, in folgenden vier Schritten: I. Spezifikation der bekannten möglichen Handlungen; 2. Bestimmung aller möglichen Folgen und der Wahrscheinlichkeit dieser Folgen für jede der Handlungen, unter Verwendung aller verfügbaren relevanten Informationen; 3. Wertbestimmung jeder möglichen Folge von jeder der möglichen Handlungen auf Grund der relevanten Wertkriterien; und 4. Ableitung der “richtigen” vorzunehmenden Handlung aus 3. Bei der Ausführung dieser Schritte wird eine logische Konstruktion verwendet nach dem Muster von Carnap, Hempel und Oppenheim.Im Interesse einer grössern Verständlichkeit wird die Definition in zwei Stufen entwickelt. Der Anhang enthält eine (stark vereinfachte) Illustration über die Anwendung der Definition.Une définition générale de la rationalité - pour qu'elle soit utilisable pour des decisions pratiques - doit pour le moins tenir pleinement compte de chacune des caractéristiques suivantes du monde “réel”: la durée de ľ action et des conséquences de ľ action; la multitude des effets connexes ď une action; ľ inévitable incertitude de celui qui agit en ce qui concerne les alternatives qui s'offrent à lui et les conséquences de chacune de ces actions; le coǔt des informations complémentaires; le coǔt de ľ exécution logique des opérations; la diversite des criteres-valeur, suivant l'opinion de ceux qui agissent; les modifications dans le temps des critères-valeur ď un exécutant donné; la préférence que marque celui qui agit quant au temps, au risque, à la procédure logique et àľ incertitude. La définition de la rationalité devrait spécifier le déroulement de ľ action, qui, à la lumière de tous ces facteurs, apparaǐt comme “la meilleure”.La définition proposée ici esquisse une procédure rationnelle pour le choix ď une action parmi toutes les actions reconnues possibles; en ľ occurrence, le mot action se rapporte à une suite chronologique a) ď actions (au sens usuel), b) ď informations et c) ď analyses logiques. Grosso modo, le processus comprend les quatre étapes suivantes: I° la spécification des actions connues possibles; 2° la détermination pour chacune des actions, et en utilisant toutes les informations disponibles entrant en ligne de compte, de toutes les conséquences possibles et de leurs probabilityés respectives; 3oévaluation, à la lumière des critères-valeur entrant en ligne de compte, de chacune des conséquences possibles de chacune des actions possibles; et 4o la déduction de 3o de ľ action “correcte”à exécuter. En exposant ces étapes, ľ auteur utilise une construction logique calquée sur celles de Carnap, Hempel et Oppenheim.Afin ď etre mieux compréhensible, la définition est présentée en deux paliers. Ľ annexe à cet article contient un exemple (considérablement simplifyé) de ľ application de la définition.

Notes: The political economy of protection attributes the erection of trade barriers to interest group activities, preferences of the electorates and nationalist ideologies on part of the politicians. The respective empirical models, which have already been confirmed for a number of industrialized countries, are also applicable for developing and newly industrializing countries. However, as the survey of empirical studies on these countries shows, the explanatory power of these models is quite low. For this reason, this paper develops an extended interest-group approach, which also includes suppliers and purchasers which might form an opposition against the increasing protection. The empirical evidence for the case of Brazil shows that this extended interest group model substantially improves the results of the estimations.