This book is the first attempt to establish a collaborative and interdisciplinary field of economics and legal studies. It is designed to help readers - advanced undergraduate and graduate students, but also fellow scholars who are interested in interdisciplinarity - to think through the dual lenses of economics and law. "Econo-Legal Studies," as we call it, is an economics that pays greater attention to the perspective and heritage of legal studies, and at the same time legal studies that fully utilize the views and methods of economics - while "law and economics" is just a one-way economic approach to law focusing on the effects of the latter on efficiency. The aim of this book is to encourage readers to think like economists and, at the same time, legal scholars as they analyze complex real-world issues. It presents stimulating discussions on the intersection of law and economics, the differences and unexpected similarities between the two perspectives, and the new insights to be gained when approaching a problem from both angles. For this purpose, the extensive corpus of knowledge produced within the framework of the Econo-Legal Studies interdisciplinary program at Kobe University can be capitalized on. Basic knowledge of both economics and law is also included in this volume, making it an engaging read for beginners in both fields as well.

This book is the first attempt to establish a collaborative and interdisciplinary field of economics and legal studies. It is designed to help readers - advanced undergraduate and graduate students, but also fellow scholars who are interested in interdisciplinarity - to think through the dual lenses of economics and law. "Econo-Legal Studies," as we call it, is an economics that pays greater attention to the perspective and heritage of legal studies, and at the same time legal studies that fully utilize the views and methods of economics - while "law and economics" is just a one-way economic approach to law focusing on the effects of the latter on efficiency. The aim of this book is to encourage readers to think like economists and, at the same time, legal scholars as they analyze complex real-world issues. It presents stimulating discussions on the intersection of law and economics, the differences and unexpected similarities between the two perspectives, and the new insights to be gained when approaching a problem from both angles. For this purpose, the extensive corpus of knowledge produced within the framework of the Econo-Legal Studies interdisciplinary program at Kobe University can be capitalized on. Basic knowledge of both economics and law is also included in this volume, making it an engaging read for beginners in both fields as well.

This book compares legally allowed dismissal conditions in employment contracts in Taiwan and Japan and then examines the possibility of introducing the Taiwan-style severance payment system into Japanese employment contracts. A significant difference exists between employment regulations of Japan and Taiwan. In Japan, dismissal of an employee on the grounds of ability is not easily upheld in a court of law, and a set rule for dismissals with severance payment does not exist. On the other hand, in Taiwan, where regulations do not allow dismissal at will, an employee can still be dismissed with severance payment, as long as due process is followed. Written by labor lawyers and labor economists from both Taiwan and Japan, this book describes the procedures that must be followed in the dismissal process in the two countries. It also shows that this difference in dismissal conditions between the two countries explains the low labor mobility in Japan and high labor mobility in Taiwan, and that this difference in labor mobility, in turn, caused the shift of IT production from Japan to Taiwan in the 1990s. The final chapter of the book elucidates the need for introducing the Taiwan-style severance payment before carrying out further deregulation in Japan.

In countries where collective bargaining is conducted mainly at the industry or regional level, there is often a type of workers' representation at the company or establishment level other than a labor union. Where this double form of worker representation - that is, labor unions and employee representatives - exists, the relationship between the two can present a delicate problem in industrial relations. "Decentralizing Industrial Relations" is an in-depth country-by-country analysis, for nine major industrial nations, of three essential topics in this area: the relationship between labor unions and employee representatives, the shift in collective bargaining from industry or branch towards the company or establishment level, and the role of labor unions or employee representatives in the flexibilization of labor protective regulations. What emerges in the course of the analysis sheds important light on such crucial factors as the following: the political power of labor unions; the extent to which employee representatives can and do protect workers' interests; 'single-channel' (labor unions only) versus 'double-channel' systems; invasion of the 'turf' of labor unions by employee representation systems; and, inclusion of disadvantageous working conditions in collective agreements or workplace agreements. In the aggregate, the study finds that, although employers are nowhere completely free to modify working conditions unilaterally, in all countries they can, abetted by the decline of labor unions and an emphasis on 'flexibilization,' make working conditions increasingly dependent on the individual employment contract. In this global context, the supremacy of labor unions is being questioned. This issue is undoubtedly one that deeply concerns all professionals interested in labor, employment, and industrial relations. This volume in Kluwer's "Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations" series reprints papers submitted to the 8th Comparative Labor Law Seminar (JILPT Tokyo Seminar) held on 21 February, 2006.