I. The extent to which labor is commodified in modern industrial capitalist societies is, in part, a reflection of the degree to which wage labor is seen as a legitimate form of exchange. The less legitimacy wage labor has, the more pressure there will be on the state to provide economic support independent of labor market participation. This makes subjection of individuals to the labor market more conditional (on being able-bodied and of sound mind, on general macroeconomic conditions, etc.).
II. According to the commensuration theory, seeing commodities as commensurable with labor contributes to the legitimacy of wage labor as a form of exchange. In order for the wage to become commensurable with the work that is given for it, it needs to be spent on commodities. Kept in money form, the wage is too abstract to facilitate commensuration.
III. Therefore, the degree to which labor is commodified (or, in Esping-Andersen’s terms, not decommodified) should, ceteris paribus, be positively correlated with rates of consumer spending and negatively correlated with saving rates. Higher rates of consumer spending should go along with more commodified labor. Capitalist nations with developed welfare states, which to some degree decommodify labor, should, therefore, have lower rates of spending and higher rates of saving.
So, where the institution of wage labor has greater legitimacy, people will tend to be more commodified (that is, subjection to the labor market will be less conditional). At the same time, the means by which that legitimacy is secured—the accumulative consumption of time-indexing goods—results in higher rates of spending and therefore lower savings rates. Conversely, it follows from the commensuration theory that decommodification should be inversely correlated with spending rates (and, by default, positively correlated with household saving rates). And, as we have seen, cross-referencing Esping-Andersen’s empirical analysis with comparative data on rates of saving and spending reveals a pattern that provides some support for this prediction.
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Time for Things