Be very careful with what you'd wish for : kanbans in a bakery are actually a thing. And such a bakery can be very successfull ;-)
71 karma · joined December 1, 2011
"This article shows empirically how trade union membership and income inequality are mutually related in twelve countries over more than 100 years. While past research has shown that high income inequality occurs alongside low trade union membership, we show that past income inequality actually increases trade union membership with a time lag, as trade unions recruit more members after inequality has been high. But we also show that strengthened trade unions then fight inequality, thereby destroying what helped them to recruit new members in the past. As trade union density decreases, inequality increases and eventually re-incentivises workers to join unions again. By showing this empirically, we reconceptualise the relationship between inequality and union density as a prey and predator model, where predators eat prey – unions destroy inequality, but thereby also destroy their own basis for survival. By empirically showing that trade union density and social inequality influence each other in this way over long periods, this article contributes to a dynamic approach on how social problems and social movements interact."
Some of her concepts such as "import replacement" (a free market process of discovery and division of labor within a city) can be very helpful for cities aiming to mimick San Francisco / Silicon Valley such as Lille in France (with its Euratechnologies neighbourhood, where I work) or Shenzen (now that it's losing its toy factories and moving up the economic laders). And the importance of "eyes on the street" for everybody's safety, of diversity of shops/works for economic resilience, of serendipity for the process of innovation (the creation of new work, in Jane Jacobs terms), etc.
And by the way, her books are an easy read too ! I'd say a real "classic" : even more 40 years later there's still some real insights for non-urbanists.