This book takes as a starting point that welfare states in developed societies do not provide systems of social insurance against the risk of an early death. In contrast to the way in which economically developed countries provide ways of insuring citizens against other possibilities, such as unemployment and disease, no such social insurance mechanism exists for early death. It aims to demonstrate that, despite the impossibility to compensate the victims of a short life once they are identified, and despite the impossibility to identify the persons who will be short-lived (when they are still alive), it is nonetheless possible to construct a social insurance against the risk of a short life by means of age-based statistical discrimination favouring all young persons. Combining philosophical literature with economic analysis, the book re-examines the ethical foundations of social insurance, and proposes a major reform of the welfare state: the construction of a social insurance against a short life. It shows how such an insurance system could be constructed by partially 'reversing' existing pension systems, by offering a period of retirement to all young adults before they start their career. Such a 'reversed' pension system would allocate more free time and opportunities to younger members of society before they enter the labour market, and, hence, this system would also improve the lives of the - unidentified - young persons who will turn out to die prematurely. The book discusses the social desirability of this new system, as well as its financial feasibility and societal consequences, examining how pension allowances paid to young adults may be financed by the work of senior workers. As such, this book demonstrates how the universal uncertainty about the duration of life can be reconciled with the idea of social justice. With an accessible and interdisciplinary approach, this book will be of interest to academics working in a range of fields, including economics, public finance, social insurance, the economics of ageing and the welfare state, economic ethics and political philosophy.

The distinguished contributors in this volume provide a variety of essays, which are written in honor of Emmanuel Drandakis. These essays fall into four uniform areas of economics: economic growth, general equilibrium, labor economics and game theory and applications.The editors focus on a select set of issues that stand high on the agenda of academic research. They provide fresh insights and approaches to the analysis of these issues, and thus open up wider avenues for our understanding of the dilemmas posed for theory and policy. Readers are offered new empirical evidence on such thorny social problems as, for example, unemployment, the intergenerational transmission of human capital and the response of wages to price and endowment changes. These contributions, in conjunction with the realisation that the papers are written by some of the most distinguished economists in the respective areas, make the volume an attractive addition for all who are interested in the contemporary research and teaching of economics.

The first volume focuses on globalization, international migration, employment, labour agency, technological change, and labour resilience. This book aims to examine how labour institutions, both in developed and developing countries, have responded to the challenges faced over the last 30 years. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in labour economics, political economy, and development economics.

The growth of the services sector in developing countries and their increased participation in trade in services have far-reaching implications for promotion of employment and income and management of international migration. The book brings out these implications in the context of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and explains how trade-related temporary movements of persons can be a partial substitute for longer-term migration, serving the interests of both developed and developing countries in a more efficient global economy.

This book analyses the management of human resources in Chinese industry, covering the period from 1949 to present, particularly focusing on the period of economic reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s. For four decades Chinese workers have enjoyed job security under the 'iron rice-bowl' employment system. This arrangement is now under threat from the recent labour reforms and the emergence of a nascent labour market. The study looks in detail at these developments in the North-Eastern cities, China's industrial heartland.

While much is known about the situation in the labour market in the form of gender pay and earnings gaps, rather little is understood about their sequel in old age the gender pension gap. Entering the world of pensions may well signal a step backwards as far as women's independence is concerned, particularly in countries where women have earned economic independence in employment and are now being confronted by institutional frameworks presuming, encouraging or even imposing dependence. Unequal Ageing in Europe explores the gender pension gap across the member states of the European Union, plus Iceland and Norway. Employing microdata from the Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), along with data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), the authors derive key facts regarding pension inequality between women and men. An intuitive indicator for a pension gender gap is derived and contrasted with equivalent indicators for pay and earnings gaps. The authors explore European diversity in a number of dimensions and benchmark their findings against equivalent findings in the US.

The main thrust of this book is to address a number of manpower issues vital to the development of the Persian Gulf region. By taking a long-run perspective, the study creates a framework for the development of future manpower policies in the key countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iran, and Iraq. The past policies in the region of growth-related investment, industrialization, and economic development should not be given priority over development-related human resource issues. Furthermore, the pressing need to accommodate demands for more highly skilled national manpower should not occur at the neglect of the region's culture and values.

This book identifies and analyzes the various ways in which office automation will have an impact on the future of clerical employment in the banking and insurance industries over the period 1985-2000. By focusing on how office automation could affect both aggregate levels of clerical employment and the nature of clerical tasks, the book offers readers a rich and detailed basis for their thinking and action concerning office automation. It also presents a newly developed forecasting method that can be used by analysts and researchers to investigate in detail the potential effects that rapidly changing technologies could have on work and workers.

In this book leading European economists examine the current status of social pacts and their future. Particular focus is placed on the role of trade unions, and the positive role they can play for economic and social stability by agreeing to set wages on the basis of a target rate of inflation. As the European Union expands and social change accelerates, this insightful book will be of interest to all concerned with social and economic developments across Europe.

Underemployment - when people are employed in some way that is insufficient, such as being overqualified or working part-time when one desires full-time employment - is a challenge faced by all industrialized nations and their organizations and individuals. Just like unemployment, some level of underemployment exists even in the best of times, but it becomes more pervasive when the job market is weak. Given the current economic climate in North America and abroad, researchers and scholars in various disciplines (psychology, business, sociology, economics) are becoming more interested in investigating the effects of underemployment and identifying possible practical solutions. Underemployment synthesizes the current understanding of the phenomenon by bringing together scholars with diverse perspectives and expertise with the aim of informing and guiding the next generation of underemployment research.

This book utilizes the School to Work Transition Survey (SWTS) of the ILO to discuss what shapes an individual worker's decision to participate in unionization and how her working condition is affected by that.. There remains a disconnect as far as our understanding of the relationship between the labour's choice to unionize as individual actor and the broader socioeconomic, political and cultural context of that choice, is concerned.Using the SWTS data, the book focuses on the identification of the correlates of workers' propensity to unionize, the outcomes of unionizing and their synthesis with the wider political economy context to arrive at stylized patterns in the way informal workers exercise their agency.The book also reflects upon field data on organizing challenges of migrant workers in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The book does not claim to establish any causality but is interested in bringing out broad patterns that define informal workers' organizing in a particular context. In the process, the book ends up with the preposition that despite all the heterogeneities across regions, informal workers' organizing today can be understood through the lens of pragmatism.

Henry George (1839-1897) rose to fame as a social reformer and economist amid the industrial and intellectual turbulence of the late nineteenth century. His best-selling Progress and Poverty (1879) captures the ravages of privileged monopolies and the woes of industrialization in a language of eloquent indignation. His reform agenda resonates as powerfully today as it did in the Gilded Age, and his impassioned prose and compelling thought inspired such diverse figures as Leo Tolstoy, John Dewey, Sun Yat-Sen, Winston Churchill, and Albert Einstein. This six-volume edition of The Annotated Works of Henry George assembles all his major works for the first time with new introductions, critical annotations, extensive bibliographical material, and comprehensive indexing to provide a wealth of resources for scholars and reformers. Volume VI of this series presents A Perplexed Philosopher (1892), Henry George's devastating critique of Herbert Spencer's changing views on the land question after he achieved fame as the author of the "Synthetic Philosophy." Social Statics (1850), Spencer's first major work, affirms an equal right of all to the use of the earth. By the early 1890s, Spencer had recanted this view in such works as Justice (1891) and an abridged version of Social Statics (1892). This betrayal of principle by Spencer provoked George to write A Perplexed Philosopher. In this volume George's original text is supplemented by critical annotations and an extensive topical bibliography. A comprehensive index covers all six volumes in the series. The introductory essay by Dr. Joseph Milne, "Social Evolution and Moral Sophistry," provides the cultural and philosophical context for George's critical analysis of Spencer's tortuous abandonment of the principle of equal freedom with respect to its application to the use of nature and the furtherance of equal opportunity for all. In A Perplexed Philosopher, George employs his considerable logical acumen to reveal Spencer's multiple inconsistencies and confusions when it comes to the land question. Spencer did not respond in a systematic fashion to George's critique. The few comments that he did make show that his understanding of the movement which George inspired was quite limited. Henry George wrote A Perplexed Philosopher in order to correct the many confusions about the land question by a major nineteenth century philosopher. In doing so he made a significant contribution to such topics as the issue of compensation, when a wrongful entitlement is taken away from a privilege-holder, and tendency of towards materialistic positivism. A Perplexed Philosopher reveals some fundamental differences between George's philosophical outlook and other prevailing views in the nineteenth century. A Perplexed Philosopher is not only a major contribution to nineteenth century scholarship with regard to the relation between humanity and nature, but it also illuminates a stark contrast between George's animating philosophy of equitable reform and Spencer's philosophy of the status quo.

"Made me look at the industrial revolution, invention, sleeping beauties, contexts and the forces that shape our societies differently."-David Byrne, New York Times Book Review How the history of technological revolutions can help us better understand economic and political polarization in the age of automation The Technology Trap is a sweeping account of the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society's members. As Carl Benedikt Frey shows, the Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating. Middle-income jobs withered, wages stagnated, the labor share of income fell, profits surged, and economic inequality skyrocketed. These trends broadly mirror those in our current age of automation. But, just as the Industrial Revolution eventually brought about extraordinary benefits for society, artificial intelligence systems have the potential to do the same. The Technology Trap demonstrates that in the midst of another technological revolution, the lessons of the past can help us to more effectively face the present.

Examining the occupational variation within non-standard employment, this book combines case studies and comparative writing to illustrate how and why alternative occupational employment patterns are formed. Non-standard employment has grown significantly in most developed economies, varying between countries. Different institutional settings have been deemed accountable for this variation, although inadequate consideration has been given to differences within national labour markets. Through an occupational perspective, this book contends that patterns of non-standard employment are shaped by flexibility in hiring and firing practices and the dispensability of workers' skills. The framework integrates explanations based on labour market regulation, industrial relations and skill supply, filling the gaps in previous scholastic research. A necessary and discernible insight into employment patterns, academics in the fields of economics and sociology will find this book of great value. Policy makers and practitioners alike will benefit from the comparative analysis of rich empirical material. Contributors: F. Berton, M.R. Busemeyer, H. Chung, M. Dieckhoff, W. Eichhorst, B. Francon, V. Gash, A.C. Gielen, M. Keune, A. Koslowski, J. Leschke, P. Lopez Roldan, P.K. Madsen, P. Marx, C. McLean, A. Mertens, O. Molina, R. Muffels, M. Nelson, M. Richiardi, L. Romeu-Gordo, S. Sacchi, T. Schils, K. Thelen, V. Tobsch

With the ongoing restructuring in Sudan, structural issues such as the need for skill development and interaction with technological change need an in-depth analysis that this book offers. The central themes of this book are- required skill formation, upskilling of the workers, and their interaction with technological change in lieu of a deficient educational system and its implications. An empirical investigation of the causes and consequences of low skill and technology indicators using a primary survey at macro and micro levels is undertaken. This is followed by an examination of the interaction between the low skill and technology indicators, the relationships between skill, upskilling and technology indicators, skills mismatch, the uses and impacts of ICT and differences at firm as well as industry level as well as knowledge transfer effects. A set of recommendations towards the need for implementation of consistent policies, increasing incentives and collaboration between public and private institutions completes the book.

These volumes represent a concerted attempt to link what is known from human performance research to recognized national needs for improving productivity. The product of a National Science Foundation project directed by the series editor, the set features authoritative reviews by leading psychologists in the field. The volumes cover many areas of human performance not included in other books.

Panel Data and Structural Labour Market Models is the latest volume in a series of four, reporting on the original work of an international group of scholars with research interests in the performance of the labour markets that condition the dynamic labour market experiences of individual workers.

The book contains papers focusing on theoretical and empirical modelling of the labour market covering both wage equilibrium models and models for labour market transition. Contributions range from the theoretical or econometric through empirical structural methods and exploratory data analysis based on employer and employee level data.

Academic libraries, labour economists, labour and industrial relations research institutes and statistical agencies will find this a particularly useful piece of work.

Women Migrant Workers in China's Economic Reform studies unmarried women migrant workers in China. As international migrants in China's richest province, they work in silk, one of China's oldest and most symbolically-charged industries. Through extensive interviews and a wide-ranging interpretation of the secondary literature, this book brings an interdisciplinary approach to its study of power and identity. Gender, class, and local identities matter in the factories and streets of a one-industry town, and municipal and factory leaders seek to rework these over-shifting forces to build a low-cost, reliable labour force. The women in question seek to rework these disadvantages by the same forces, have other aspirations!

This open access book comparatively analyses intergenerational social mobility in immigrant families in Europe. It is based on qualitative in-depth research into several hundred biographies and professional trajectories of young people with an immigrant working-class background, who made it into high-prestige professions. The biographies were collected and analysed by a consortium of researchers in nine European countries from Norway to Spain. Through these analyses, the book explores the possibilities of cross-country comparisons of how trajectories are related to different institutional arrangements at the national and local level. The analysis uncovers the interaction effects between structural/institutional settings and specific individual achievements and family backgrounds, and how these individuals responsed to and navigated successfully through sector-specific pathways into high-skilled professions, such as becoming a lawyer or a teacher. By this, it also explains why these trajectories of professional success and upward mobility have been so exceptional in the second generation of working-class origins, and it tells us a lot also about exclusion mechanisms that marked the school and professional careers of children of immigrants who went to school in the 1970s to 2000s in Europe - and still do.

This volume presents 19 national case studies of international migration. . . . The authors of these well-written, detailed, but nontechnical chapters have complied with the editors' request, thereby yielding a number of general observations that appear to hold across these diverse countries. "Choice"

Immigration, the most difficult of all the demographic processes to document accurately, has the most immediate impact on a nation's demographic structure and the essays included in this volume provide a useful overview of the immigration process as it is currently structured. In order to facilitate transnational comparisons, each contributor has adhered to a common outline which includes historical setting, legal policies, types and quality of data, major international migrations, demographic effects of international migration, social and economic effects of international migration, and public policy issues. The future of international migration is also assessed.

The individual chapters are devoted to case studies of immigration in a variety of national settings. Included are chapters dealing with the principal receiving nations of permanent immigration; countries where immigration consists mainly of short-term imported labor; countries receiving an influx of persons from former colonial territories; countries where immigration is based on religious factors or which are destinations of refugees; and countries whose history as a colony influences current immigration and emigration patterns. Additional chapters address economically advanced countries and also focus on some of the principal sending nations of current international population flows. Offering insights into the economic consequences of migration from the perspectives of both sending and receiving nations, assessing the overall impact of immigration, and detailing the contributions of immigrants, Handbook on International Migration is an important resource for public policymakers and those who must be cognizant of the economic and demographic situation of other nations.

This book examines potential economic opportunities that countries can experience when fertility rates fall and the average life expectancy of the working age population increases. It presents detailed demographic and economic analysis of middle-income countries throughout the world in order to show how these countries can take advantage of this demographic bonus. The book first traces the common link between policies that contribute to fertility transition as well as create the right kind of environment for reaping the benefit of demographic dividend. Next, it explores different countries and regions who are at different levels of development. It assesses the long term impact of gender equality on economic growth and development in Latin America; describes the life-cycle saving patterns of Mexican households; and examines demographic determinants of economic growth in BRICS. The book also offers demographic and economic analysis of the Mediterranean area, Sub-Saharan Africa, and New Zealand. The comparison between the different territorial contexts allow for the identification of three typologies of demographic dividend: the first dividend, when the working population grows faster than total population, the second dividend, as active generations get older and invest their savings in the production system of their country, and the third dividend, based on the coexistence of two populations age structure strongly contrasting. Overall, this book argues for the need to capitalize on the opportunities that come from the demographic dividend by investing heavily in education programs, training programs for the population working age, health programs, the creation of health insurance systems as well as programs to reduce or increase fertility levels.

The contributors investigate how the large scale structures of capitalism and the local social relations of workplaces and organizations shape each other. They argue for a new integration of political economy and the sociology of work and organizations.