ASSESSING THE REGULATIONIST VIEW OF HISTORY - AN ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYMENT CHANGE IN AMERICA, 1940-1989

This research empirically investigates the pattern of employment chang e within the United States between 1940 and 1989 using an analysis of variance model to partition employment change into that accounted for by (1) national trends in employment, (2) place-independent, sector-sp ecific restructuring of employment, (3) place-specific, sector-indepen dent shifts of employment, and (4) local employment conditions. Becaus e we are concerned with a national system of capitalism, we use regula tion theory to inform our research. According to regulation theory, ca pitalism is marked by periodic shifts in the regime of accumulation, o r periods of crisis, interspersed with periods of relative stability. Our expectation is that periods of economic crisis will be marked by h igh levels of sector-specific restructuring in employment, whereas spa tial shifts in employment induced by diffusion and everyday competitio n among capitalists occur on a continuous basis. Results of the analys is indicate that, not surprisingly, significant restructuring in emplo yment has taken place. In particular, there has been a continual incre ase in restructuring from the 1940s to the 1980s. A series of annual c hange models reveals that within this gradual increase, individual yea rs in the 1940s and 1980s appear;to play particularly important roles.