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The Ordinality of Effort Revisited
Author(s) -
Currie Martin,
Steedman Ian
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
metroeconomica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.256
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-999X
pISSN - 0026-1386
DOI - 10.1111/1467-999x.00036
Subject(s) - convexity , economics , wage , function (biology) , distribution (mathematics) , variable (mathematics) , mathematical economics , econometrics , principal (computer security) , microeconomics , financial economics , mathematics , labour economics , computer science , mathematical analysis , evolutionary biology , biology , operating system
Where effort is an ordinal variable, representations of effort levels cannot be added together and thus the function Q = F ( eN ) with which efficiency‐wage theorists routinely start is incoherent. Furthermore, the ordinality of effort implies that the convexity of the distribution function condition, as invoked by principal‐agent theorists, is meaningless.