ABSTRACT
A core proposition of mainstream economic theory is that labor is a commodity whose properties are not essentially different from any other. This chapter examines a few of the qualities that make labor inherently different from other marketable commodities such as broccoli, fresh fruit, or bags of concrete. Everyone recognizes that there is a difference in substance—labor is human and for this reason different in form and ethical status from a bag of concrete. The chapter shows that labor is the one "factor of production" that most of us wish, in the end, to see well compensated. Physically, legally, ethically, and economically, labor is a commodity that, by its nature, cannot be readily separated from its provider. American trade policy is a legitimate public concern since an important consequence of losing well-paid manufacturing and technology jobs is the erosion of our high-wage economy and, with it, the erosion of our large internal market for consumer products.
