%0 Report
        %A Askenazy, Philippe
        %T Worker Surveillance Capital, Labour Share and Productivity
        %D 2020
        %8 2020 Dec
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 13950
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp13950
        %X This paper proposes a basic model with two types of capital: productive capital directly involved in the production process and capital devoted to monitoring workers. Surveillance capital intensifies workers' job strain, while wage recognition encourages their engagement. Firms face a double trade-off between the two types of capital and between incentives and labour costs. Under simple assumptions, up to a certain threshold, technological innovation improves productivity, wages and profits at the same pace, leading to a at labour share in income. 
Then, once the threshold is breached, profit-maximization initiates a transfer from productive capital to monitoring tools. This progressive shift generates a decline in the labour share and a productivity slowdown, despite greater job strain. The model suggests the possibility of a third phase in which productivity and wages recover.
        %K effort-reward imbalances
%K productivity slowdown
%K declining labour share
%K surveillance