R. Walker, "Putting Capital In Its Place" (1999)

(264) ability to pay high wages = 1. productivity + 2. w-class capacity + 3. politics of labour (social contract, etc.) + 4. profit on investment + 5. condition of place

(264) we are very far from living in a low-cost world--still serious c-tendencies

(266) there are place-specific assets

(267) obv--not all industry has moved to Haiti, yet

(268) agglomeration economies

(269) cheap labour competition is an issue, but a minor one

(269-270) what matters are unit costs: wages x productivity (Germany at 80% of Us, Japan at 50% of US in 1980s)

(272) It's the success of the NIC's that has raised the spectre of 'cheap labour'

(273-274) immigration is a small proportion of the labour force; except in exceptional cases, difficult to see how they could bring down wages (think, also, that immigration to US was highest during first boom, and was cut off only in the 20s)

(277) low-road capitalisms have done well, on occasion, but never matched records of their high road rivals

(278) investment drives productivity growth (w/o determining it entirely, of course)

(279) Japan went to SE Asia (partly) in reaction to US attempts to protect domestic manufacturing in 1985

(280) servioces grew most because the rate of profit there has held up the best

(280) overcapacity in the world economy as fundamental cause of slowdown

 (281) for Europe and Japan post-WWII, not high nor low road, but 'divided highway' (i.e., some of their competitive advantage did come from low wage costs)