ON THE FOLKLORE OF THE BACKWARD-SLOPING SUPPLY CURVE.

The conceptual validity of the backward-sloping, short-run labor supply curve has long been a popular article of faith among professional as well as lay economists. Although the author of this article does not deny the possibility that such a supply schedule may exist, he attempts to show that its regressive segment probably lies well outside the range within which labor demand schedules are likely to intersect the supply curve. Moreover, he argues, if such a regressive supply curve exists, it is not reversible, and therefore is not a true supply curve in the conventional sense. In a mass-consumption economy, at least, income and labor effort are more likely to be positively related to a very substantial degree, and it is even becoming increasingly doubtful that the traditional concept of labor supply is relevant to so-called underdeveloped economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]