Globalization, the economic crisis and related policies of austerity have led to a growth in extreme exploitation at work, with migrants particularly vulnerable. This book explores the lives of the growing numbers of severely exploited labourers in the world today, questioning how we can respond to such globalized patterns of extreme inequality.

The purpose of this book is to analyse the remaining obstacles to achieving gender equality. The first chapters present different aspects of the gender earnings gap. Different countries are studied and special emphasis is laid on particular sectors and occupations. The rest of the book deals with the postponement of first birth by educated women, the non-cooperative behaviour in time use, gender differences in job and worker mobility, transitions between employment status, discriminations contained in tax systems and poverty rate of single parent households.

This important book collects together Peter Nijkamp's work on spatial-economic markets, particularly housing and labour markets, and the increasing impact of information technology on mobility and the location of firms, residents and job seekers.The first part deals with applied modelling and theoretical advances in housing market dynamics and research. The papers address issues such as the implications of household dynamics for relocation decisions, migration movements in Europe, and the driving forces for migration decisions of ethnic groups. The second part focuses on the spatial labour market, dealing with recruitment channel and search channel choices by job seekers and firms, vacancy durations and the opportunities offered by ethnic entrepreneurship for improving the chances of ethnic groups. The third part comprises an analysis of spatial mobility flows and interaction patterns and the final part emphasises the scope and effect of information technology in transport. This includes the effect of real-time information on the behaviour of car drivers, the effect of telematics devices on public transport users, the importance of telematics for the freight transport sector and the adoption mechanisms of ICT users and their related policy implications. This collection will be essential reading for scholars and students interested in the housing and labour markets and the impact on both of developments in IT and transport.

This book offers a labour perspective on wage-setting institutions, collective bargaining and economic development. Sixteen country chapters, eight on Asia and eight on Europe, focus in particular on the role and effectiveness of minimum wages in the context of national trends in income inequality, economic development, and social security.

Population ageing is an important trend which will be experienced in industrialized countries in the early years of the next century. This significant book examines aspects of population ageing and pensions, with an emphasis on the design and use of simple economic models to focus on particular aspects of a very broad problem. The analysis of pensions presents many complex problems. A major aim of this book is to demonstrate how reasonably simple economic models can be designed and used to shed some light on the issues involved in population growth and pension provision. The basic analytics of population growth and pension structure are first explored. Projections for Australia are examined and used to model ageing and social expenditure and to estimate the 'burden' of aged care on future workers. The author goes on to investigate pensions and pension finance, and examines several types of economic model before turning to the analysis of alternative pension arrangements using a lifetime simulation model. The results of the study suggest that both lower contribution rates and a universal pension encourage a later retirement age. This book will prove invaluable to students and scholars of public sector economics, welfare economics, social economics and public finance.

This book analyzes in what way activation policies impact on given patterns of social citizenship that predominate in national contexts. It argues that the liberal paradigm of activation introduced into labour market policies in all Western European states challenges the specific patterns of social citizenship in each country.

Research on labour market, labour relations, quality of work, human re- sources management, organisation ~f work and related topics has always been an important element in the activities of SISWO. The Netherlands' Universities Institute for Coordination of Research in Social Sciences (SISWO), is a national agency that initiates and supports, both scientifically and organisationally, research endeavours on a great variety of themes. This is done by organising discussion groups, congresses and conferences, expert meetings, newsletters and publications. For the field oflabour and organisation, WESW A, theN etherlands' Uni- versities Working Committee on Social Science Research of Labour and Organisation, is the inter-university network that, in close cooperation with SISWO, unites experts from Dutch universities. WESWA and SISWO are convinced that an overview of the Dutch state of the art, in English, will be welcomed by an international audience. This state of the art work on research into labour and organisation in The Netherlands was edited by Gerard Evers, Bert van Hees and Joop Schippers. I do hope that this book will receive the attention both within and outside our country that it deserves.

This book reviews the long history of U.S. shipping policy, and explains the present challenges (including the increasing use of open register arrangements). U.S. labor problems, tort and liability risks, environmental and safety regulations, and coastal and harbor security issues receive heavy emphasis. Options for reviving U.S. shipbuilding are analayzed, along with balance of payments implications, and sealift and national security requirements. The book offers a detailed program for American maritime renewal. It is intended for maritime, national security, international trade, and foreign policy audiences. Extensive data and tables allow for a comprehensive assessment of the U.S. merchant marine and the global shipping industry, with substantial historical background.

Nearly two thirds of world shipping is done under flags of convenience. The significant over-tonnaging, subsidies and/or restrictions, and shipping friendly policies present in many countries create strong competitive pressures. Unfortunately, the U.S. and British merchant marines are in serious decline. But the Japanese, Chinese, Greeks, and Scandinavians are thriving at sea. And many European Union, Asian, and former Eastern bloc nations are likely to remain determined competitors.

U.S. maritime policies need overhaul and a more realistic outlook. This book reviews the long history of U.S. shipping policy, and explains the present challenges (including the increasing use of open register arrangements). U.S. labor problems, tort and liability risks, environmental and safety regulations, and coastal and harbor security issues receive heavy emphasis. Options for reviving U.S. shipbuilding are analayzed, along with balance of payments implications, and sealift and national security requirements. The book offers a detailed program for American maritime renewal. It is intended for maritime, national security, international trade, and foreign policy audiences. Extensive data and tables allow for a comprehensive assessment of the U.S. merchant marine and the global shipping industry, with substantial historical background.

This book investigates the extent of gender inequality in the division of labor in the modern household. Through comparisons of the time allocations of single couple families without children, couple families with children and lone parents, a comprehensive account of the evolution of gender inequality over a typical lifecourse is presented.

This work carries seven papers that analyze the effect of government and corporate actions on individuals' labor market behavior and seven others from a November 1996 conference at Cornell University discuss new empirical research on employer training.

In the Netherlands, CPB often adopts the MIMIC model to explore the structural labour market implications of changes in the tax and social-insurance system. This applied general-equilibrium model combines microeconomic theory with a rich institutional detail and a firm empirical basis. This book describes the structure of MIMIC and discusses a large number of policy measures that have been proposed during the last five years. Moreover, it elaborates on proposals that are currently in discussion, such as the flat tax. To ease the understanding of the model, we also present a core version with only a few equations.

This book examines the facts concerning child labor in Latin America--how it varies over time; across countries; and in comparison to other areas of the world. The rich evidence presented in the book supports the view that the root causes of child labor can be identified, that child labor has identifiable costs that can last across generations, and that there are policy alternatives that can succeed in its eradication. This book aims to improve the understanding of root causes and consequences of persistent child labor and to contribute to the policy debate with the goal of enhancing the current and future welfare of all children in Latin America.

One might mistakenly think that the long tradition of economic analysis in antitrust law would mean there is little new to say. Yet the field is surprisingly dynamic and changing. The specially commissioned chapters in this landmark volume offer a rigorous analysis of the field's most current and contentious issues. Focusing on those areas of antitrust economics that are most in flux, leading scholars discuss topics such as: mergers that create unilateral effects or eliminate potential competition; whether market definition is necessary; tying, bundled discounts, and loyalty discounts; a new theory of predatory pricing; assessing vertical price-fixing after Leegin; proving horizontal agreements after Twombly; modern analysis of monopsony power; the economics of antitrust enforcement; international antitrust issues; antitrust in regulated industries; the antitrust-patent intersection; and modern methods for measuring antitrust damages. Students and scholars of law and economics, law practitioners, regulators, and economists with an interest in industrial organization and consulting will find this seminal Handbook an essential and informative resource. Contributors: J.B. Baker, R.D. Blair, A. Bradford, N. Economides, A. Edlin, E. Elhauge, D.S. Evans, J.S. Haynes, B. Klein, A.K. Klevorick, I.B. Kohler-Hausmann, J. Kwoka, D. Reitman, D.L. Rubinfeld, H.A. Shelanski, C.J. Sprigman, A.L. Wickelgren

Uncovering how cash-in-hand economies are composed of not only the underground sector (work akin to formal employment conducted for profit-motivated purposes), but also a hidden economy of favors more akin to mutual aid, this book displays the need to transcend conventional market-oriented readings of cash-in-hand work and radically rethink whether seeking its eradication through tougher regulations is always appropriate. It argues for a variegated policy approach that recognizes these two distinct forms of cash-in-hand work and that tailors policy accordingly.

According to Chermesh, the Israeli industrial relations system has developed as a state within a state, having, by the mid-1980s, gained a high level of autonomy and detachment from political and economic constraints. At the heart of the system is the Histadrut, the General Federation of Labor, which Chermesh asserts must be radically reshaped in order to bring about political and economic control of the system. By tracing the evolution of the system from the mid-1960s, Chermesh demonstrates the limits of economic and legal perspectives as analytical tools in the field of collective industrial relations. Instead he stresses the importance of the institutional setting for planning and implementing sound industrial relations policy. By constructing an analytical laboratory for industrial relations research. Chermesh's study merits the attention of students and scholars involved in comparative industrial relations and the sociology of organizations as well as those studying contemporary Israeli society and economic life.

The salient features of the Japanese labour market are explained in this volume, the key idea being integrated segmentation. Emphasis is on segmentation: on the demand side, within the educational system and, on the supply side, monitoring costs which underlie labour contracts. Using long-run official government statistical evidence, it is argued that what is peculiar to Japan is the integration of segmented labour markets. By virtue of segmentation the Japanese labour market is deeply competitive. By virtue of integration it is highly co-operative.

A detailed exploration of the influence and utility of Thomas Malthus' model of population growth and economic changes in Europe since the nineteenth century. This important contribution to current discussions on theories of economic growth includes discussion of issues ranging from mortality and fertility to natural resources and the poverty trap.

As women are entering the workforce in record numbers, there is an urgent need to address the specific ethical problems that working women face. Providing a conceptual framework from which practical issues can be addressed, the authors focus on sexual harassment, comparable worth, leadership, advertising, and working-class women. Theoretical concepts, applied cases, personal narratives, statistical data and charts are all included in this wide ranging treatment of ethics and working women. This is not merely a summary of others' work; it is a book that will frame debates on gender, ethics, business, and economics and serve as an exemplar for the critical treatment of basic human concerns.

This book explores the relationship between the location of the firm, the location of its markets and suppliers, and the inventory holding behaviour of the firm. Space costs and time costs are manifested in inventory costs. The examination of these inventory costs allows new insights into the reasons for observed industrial location behaviour. In particular, we see that transport costs are only a small part of total distance costs, and that the values of the goods being shipped and the value-added by the firm, are crucial location determinants. This approach is then extended to an analysis of Just-In-Time (JIT) production.

This is a book on how and why workers come together. Almost coincident with its inception, worker organisation is a central and enduring element of capitalism. In the 19th and 20th centuries' mobilisation by workers played a substantial role in reshaping critical elements of these societies in Europe, North America, Australasia and elsewhere including the introduction of minimum labour standards (living wage rates, maximum hours etc), workplace safety and compensation laws and the rise of welfare state more generally. Notwithstanding setbacks in recent decades, worker organisation represents a pivotal countervailing force to moderate the excesses of capitalism and is likely to become even more influential as the social consequences of rising global inequality become more manifest. Indeed, instability and periodic shifts in the respective influence of capital and labour are endemic to capitalism. As formal institutions have declined in some countries or unions outlawed and severely repressed in others, there has been growing recognition of informal strike activity by workers and wider alliances between unions and community organisations in others. While such developments are seen as new they aren't. Indeed, understanding of worker organisation is often ahistorical and even those understandings informed by historical research are, this book will argue, in need of revision. This book provides a new perspective on and new insights into how and why workers organise, and what shapes this organisation. The Origins of Worker Mobilisation will be key reading for scholars, academics and policy makers the fields of industrial relations, HRM, labour economics, labour history and related disciplines.

This book considers patterns of women's employment in the period 1700-1850. Focusing on the county of Essex, material on the worsted industry, agriculture, fashion trades, service, prostitution, and marriage and family life will shed light on contemporary debates in history such as the sexual division of labour, controversy over continuity or change in women's employment, the importance of ideas of 'separate spheres' and 'domestic ideology', and the overall effects of capitalism on women's employment.

This volume examines the development of linked and panel data sets for European labour market and social policy analysis, with special focus on labour turnover flows and mobility, the role of labour market institutions and firms human resource strategies in relation to wages, and the labor market outcomes of internationalization.

The main purpose of this book is to enhance the understanding of differences in productivity performance between countries and sectors and to improve our insight in the drivers of productivity levels and its growth. Due to demographics the speed-up of productivity growth will be of increasing importance to secure GDP growth in the future, since the other source of GDP growth (employment growth) will be limited in most Western Countries. A better insight in the patterns and drivers of productivity performance is therefore not simply a matter of academic interest, however valuable that in itself can be. Improving our knowledge of the drivers of productivity will enable us to determine which are the 'switches' policy makers have to use. The book takes the Netherlands as a case, but is hardly a book on productivity in the Low Countries alone. The different contributors focus on the drivers of productivity that prevail in every modern economy, using the Netherlands' experience as an example, which makes this book relevant for the analysis of productivity in other countries. Moreover, the book contains international comparisons between EU and OECD countries, in particular with regard to productivity performance. The book focuses on productivity in the business sector, leaving public sector productivity aside.

Most scholarship on corporate governance in the last two decades has focused on the relationships between shareholders and managers or directors. Neglected in this vast literature is the role of employees in corporate governance. Yet ""human capital,"" embodied in the employees, is rapidly becoming the most important source of value for corporations, and outside the United States, employees often have a significant formal role in corporate governance. This volume turns the spotlight on the neglected role of employees by analyzing many of the formal and informal ways that employees are actually involved in the governance of corporations, in U.S. firms and in large corporations in Germany and Japan. Examining laws and contexts, the essays focus on the framework for understanding employees' role in the firm and the implications for corporate governance. They explore how and why the special legal institutions in German and Japanese firms by which employees are formally involved in corporate governance came into being, and the impact these institutions have on firms and on their ability to compete. They also consider theoretical and empirical questions about employee share ownership. The result of a conference at Columbia University, the volume includes essays by Theodor Baums, Margaret M. Blair, David Charny, Greg Dow, Bernd Frick, Ronald J. Gilson, Jeffrey N. Gordon, Nobuhiro Hiwatari, Katharina Pistor, Louis Putterman, Edward B. Rock, Mark J. Roe, and Michael L. Wachter. Margaret M. Blair is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of Ownership and Control: Rethinking Corporate Governance for the Twenty-first Century (Brookings, 1995). Mark J. Roe, professor of business regulation and director of the Sloan Project on Corporate Governance at Columbia Law School, is the author of Strong Managers, Weak Owners: The Political Roots of American Corporate Finance (Princeton, 1996).