The marginal-productivity theory of wages is itself a discursive claim-making tool.

Evidence

In his academic lectures, Pantaleoni asked students: “what wage can the entrepreneur give to the worker?” He answered: “as much as he is worth. He certainly cannot pay him more than what he is worth, and by competition, he will not be able to pay him less … the rule that labour is paid how much it is worth [tanto quanto vale], nothing more nothing less, holds” (Pantaleoni 1910, 204). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1255 (#expands, via linked claim)

That concepts and material means are therefore constitutive of economic action that economic action involves distributed cognition in the sense of Hutchins (1995a,b) implies that the economic theory crystallized in concepts and devices is performed. Sometimes, I have suggested, this performativity is Barnesian: it helps to create the phenomena the theory posits. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1196 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Neoclassical wage theory asserts labor is paid exactly its marginal worth — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1255; Economic theory embodied in devices performs and creates its own posited phenomena. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1196; Marginal-productivity theory functions as claims-making discourse rather than wage science — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 180

Related

• Marginal-productivity theory functions as claims-making discourse rather than wage science (similarity 0.86)
• Neoclassical wage theory asserts labor is paid exactly its marginal worth (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Neoclassical wage theory asserts labor is paid exactly its marginal worth #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1255
• Economic theory embodied in devices performs and creates its own posited phenomena. #expands (0.80) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1196