A POLITICAL-ECONOMY OF THE SOCIAL WAGE - THE NET SOCIAL WAGE IN AUSTRALIA, 1964-65 TO 1991-92

This article attempts to place the concept and measurement of the soci al wage into a context of political economy. Several variations on the conventional method of measuring the social wage are proposed and app lied to Commonwealth outlays for the period 1964-65 to 1991-92. It is argued that the resulting concept is better suited to an analysis of t he impact of government social expenditures on capital accumulation. W hile the alternative 'Net Social Wage' concept must be a qualifiable m easure of the redistributive impact of such expenditures, it is argued also that it is a more meaningful one than the conventional measure p resented in most studies on this subject.