THE EDITORS OF FORTUNE. The Changing American Market. Pp. 304. Garden City, N. Y.: Hanover House, 1955. $4.50
| Published date | 01 July 1955 |
| Author | Margaret G. Reid |
| Date | 01 July 1955 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625530000141 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
148
needed
him,
in
order
to
make
his
award
acceptable.
Secondly,
when
the
parties
elect
to
submit
the
wage
issue
to
arbitra-
tion
each
has
concluded
that
it
can
gain
its
own
vision
of
the
wage
no
more
ef-
fectively
by
any
other
device.
Thirdly,
that
since
the
criteria
of
wage
determina-
tion
are
something
less
than
definitive
their
shortcomings
are
as
hazardous
to
the
arbi-
trator
as
they
are
to
the
parties.
In
conse-
quence,
&dquo;his
problem
is
not
to
lay out
a
yardstick
and
measure
off
an
amount,
but,
rather,
to
balance
contesting
standards
in
an
exercise
in
responsible
judgment.&dquo;
The
author’s
analysis
reveals
that
the
criteria
of
wage
determination
are
given
sharply
differing
weights
by
the
parties
and
arbitrators
in
the
cases
studied.
He
concludes,
however,
that
the
order
of
weight
given
to
the
most
frequently
used
wage
criteria
by
arbitrators
appears
to
be:
com-
parisons,
normally
intra-industry
and
less
often
inter-industry;
cost
of
living;
and
financial
condition
of
the
employer.
Other
wage
criteria
that
are
rarely
utilized
by
arbitrators
include
differential
features
of
work,
regularity
of
employment,
money
value
of
fringe
items,
substandard
wages,
productivity,
and
hours
of
work.
The
book
is
exceptionally
well-written,
well-documented,
and
contains
a
wealth
of
material
that
can
be
extremely
useful
to
employers,
unions,
arbitrators,
and
students
who
have
any
concern
with
the
complex
problems
involved
in
the
arbitration
of
wage
matters.
JOHN
R.
ABERSOLD
University
of
Pennsylvania
THE
EDITORS
OF
FORTUNE.
The
Changing
American
Market.
Pp.
304.
Garden
City,
N.
Y.:
Hanover
House,
1955.
$4.50.
This
book
presents
with
some
revisions
a
series
of
twelve
articles
that
appeared
in
Fortune
between
August
1953
and
1954.
The
editors
hope
that
it
will
prove
to
be
&dquo;an
exciting
new
kind
of
travelogue
for
everyone
interested
in
America
as
well
as
a
statistical
source
book
for
the
trained
student
of
the
United
States
economy&dquo;
(p.
7).
Lay
readers
who
like
to
have
facts
about
changing
consumption
in
quantitative
terms
will
find
much
of
interest.
Market
analysts
who
want
a
broad
survey
of
many
types
of
consumer
markets
will
find
the
book
a
mine
of
information.
Information
from
many
sources
has
been
brought
together
and
interpreted.
Many
charts
are
included
in
the
text;
tables
have
been
relegated
to
the
appendix
out
of
the
way
of
the
readers
gathering
impressions,
but
available
for
those
wishing
to
make
a
closer
appraisal.
Many
of
the
charts
suffer,
however,
from
being
condensed
from
the
format
of
For-
tune
magazine
to
that
of
the
book.
The
book
is
full
of
optimism
about
the
future,
exemplified
in
such
chapter
titles
as
&dquo;The
Rich
Middle
Income
Class,&dquo;
&dquo;The
Lush
New
Suburban
Market,&dquo;
&dquo;The
Fab-
ulous
Market
for
Food.&dquo;
Consumption
levels
have been
high
and
are
to
be
higher
in
the
future
even
though
marked
increases
in
population
are
in
prospect.
The
authors
are
nevertheless
very
candid
about
the
probable
decrease
in
the
demand
for
some
types
of
consumer
goods,
the
kind
of
competition
traditional
lines
are
likely
to
encounter
from
new
products
that
the
tech-
nology
develops,
and
the
shifts
in
demand
occurring
because
of
the
greater
equality
of
the
incomes.
The
travelogue
is
one
of
many
short
stops
rather
than
a
few
long
visits.
A
few
readers
as
they
hurry
along
may
sense
certain
paradoxes
in
the
facts
and
the
interpretations.
What
meaning
should
be
attached
to
low
income
families
in
1947
spending
90
per
cent
of
their
income
for
food?
(p.
280).
Does
income
going
to
food
or
to
any
other
consumer
goods
signify
tend-
encies
if
income
was
underreported
or
if
it
was
an
abnormally
low
year
for
the
families
concerned?
Such
families
were
probably
spending
during
the
year
of
the
survey
$150
for
every
$100
income
reported.
Much
is
said
about
the
increase
in
&dquo;dis-
cretionary&dquo;
income
that
has
occurred
with
the
recent
rise
in real
income.
The
recent
rise
in
income
has
been
spectacular.
It
seems
important
to
bear
in
mind,
however,
that
American
consumers
have
been
ex-
periencing
a
rise
in
real
income
for
several
decades,
the
thirties
bringing
a
break
in
a
long
run
trend.
It
has
been
shown
over
To continue reading
Request your trial