Efficiency Wage Models of the Labor Market

Efficiency Wage Models of the Labor Market
Author: George A. Akerlof
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1986-11-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521312844

The contributors explore the reasons why involuntary unemployment happens when supply equals demand.

Optimal Unemployment Insurance

Optimal Unemployment Insurance
Author: Andreas Pollak
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2007
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9783161493041

Designing a good unemployment insurance scheme is a delicate matter. In a system with no or little insurance, households may be subject to a high income risk, whereas excessively generous unemployment insurance systems are known to lead to high unemployment rates and are costly both from a fiscal perspective and for society as a whole. Andreas Pollak investigates what an optimal unemployment insurance system would look like, i.e. a system that constitutes the best possible compromise between income security and incentives to work. Using theoretical economic models and complex numerical simulations, he studies the effects of benefit levels and payment durations on unemployment and welfare. As the models allow for considerable heterogeneity of households, including a history-dependent labor productivity, it is possible to analyze how certain policies affect individuals in a specific age, wealth or skill group. The most important aspect of an unemployment insurance system turns out to be the benefits paid to the long-term unemployed. If this parameter is chosen too high, a large number of households may get caught in a long spell of unemployment with little chance of finding work again. Based on the predictions in these models, the so-called "Hartz IV" labor market reform recently adopted in Germany should have highly favorable effects on the unemployment rates and welfare in the long run.

Unions and Collective Bargaining

Unions and Collective Bargaining
Author: Toke Aidt
Publisher: Directions in Development
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2002
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This book offers an extensive survey and synthesis of the economic literature on trade unions and collective bargaining and their impact on micro-and macro-economic outcomes. The authors demonstrate the effects of collective bargaining in different country settings and time periods. A comprehensive reference, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of labor policy as well as to policy makers and anyone with an interest in the economic consequences of unionism.

The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets

The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets
Author: Tito Boeri
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2013-09-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691158932

Most labor economics textbooks pay little attention to actual labor markets, taking as reference a perfectly competitive market in which losing a job is not a big deal. The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets is the only textbook to focus on imperfect labor markets and to provide a systematic framework for analyzing how labor market institutions operate. This expanded, updated, and thoroughly revised second edition includes a new chapter on labor-market discrimination; quantitative examples; data and programming files enabling users to replicate key results of the literature; exercises at the end of each chapter; and expanded technical appendixes. The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets examines the many institutions that affect the behavior of workers and employers in imperfect labor markets. These include minimum wages, employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits, active labor market policies, working-time regulations, family policies, equal opportunity legislation, collective bargaining, early retirement programs, education and migration policies, payroll taxes, and employment-conditional incentives. Written for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students, the book carefully defines and measures these institutions to accurately characterize their effects, and discusses how these institutions are today being changed by political and economic forces. Expanded, thoroughly revised second edition New chapter on labor-market discrimination New quantitative examples New data sets enabling users to replicate key results of the literature New end-of-chapter exercises Expanded technical appendixes Unique focus on institutions in imperfect labor markets Integrated framework and systematic coverage Self-contained chapters on each of the most important labor-market institutions

The Structure of Wages

The Structure of Wages
Author: Edward P. Lazear
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2009-05-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226470512

The distribution of income, the rate of pay raises, and the mobility of employees is crucial to understanding labor economics. Although research abounds on the distribution of wages across individuals in the economy, wage differentials within firms remain a mystery to economists. The first effort to examine linked employer-employee data across countries, The Structure of Wages:An International Comparison analyzes labor trends and their institutional background in the United States and eight European countries. A distinguished team of contributors reveal how a rising wage variance rewards star employees at a higher rate than ever before, how talent becomes concentrated in a few firms over time, and how outside market conditions affect wages in the twenty-first century. From a comparative perspective that examines wage and income differences within and between countries such as Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands, this volume will be required reading for economists and those working in industrial organization.

Monopsony in Motion

Monopsony in Motion
Author: Alan Manning
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2013-12-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1400850673

What happens if an employer cuts wages by one cent? Much of labor economics is built on the assumption that all the workers will quit immediately. Here, Alan Manning mounts a systematic challenge to the standard model of perfect competition. Monopsony in Motion stands apart by analyzing labor markets from the real-world perspective that employers have significant market (or monopsony) power over their workers. Arguing that this power derives from frictions in the labor market that make it time-consuming and costly for workers to change jobs, Manning re-examines much of labor economics based on this alternative and equally plausible assumption. The book addresses the theoretical implications of monopsony and presents a wealth of empirical evidence. Our understanding of the distribution of wages, unemployment, and human capital can all be improved by recognizing that employers have some monopsony power over their workers. Also considered are policy issues including the minimum wage, equal pay legislation, and caps on working hours. In a monopsonistic labor market, concludes Manning, the "free" market can no longer be sustained as an ideal and labor economists need to be more open-minded in their evaluation of labor market policies. Monopsony in Motion will represent for some a new fundamental text in the advanced study of labor economics, and for others, an invaluable alternative perspective that henceforth must be taken into account in any serious consideration of the subject.

Negotiating Our Way Up Collective Bargaining in a Changing World of Work

Negotiating Our Way Up Collective Bargaining in a Changing World of Work
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2019-11-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9264362576

Collective bargaining and workers’ voice are often discussed in the past rather than in the future tense, but can they play a role in the context of a rapidly changing world of work? This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the functioning of collective bargaining systems and workers’ voice arrangements across OECD countries, and new insights on their effect on labour market performance today.

Macroeconomics and the Wage Bargain

Macroeconomics and the Wage Bargain
Author: Wendy Carlin
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
Total Pages: 482
Release: 1990
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780198772446

This intermediate level textbook concentrates on macroeconomic analysis and is one of the first to focus on imperfectly competitive labour and product markets. The authors present a `new Keynesian' treatment of macroeconomics. Its key characteristic is the use of wage bargaining and price-setting under imperfect competition, making product and labour market assumptions closer to the real world. These features are fully integrated in both closed and open economy analysis. The book provides access both to the important applied work on unemployment, inflation, and external balances, and to the journal literature on major questions of economic policy and performance, especially in Western Europe, available to undergraduates and non-specialists for the first time.

The Wage Curve

The Wage Curve
Author: David G. Blanchflower
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 504
Release: 1994
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780262023757

The Wage Curve casts doubt on some of the most important ideas in macroeconomics, labor economics, and regional economics. According to macroeconomic orthodoxy, there is a relationship between unemployment and the rate of change of wages. According to orthodoxy in labor economics and regional economics an area's wage is positively related to the amount of joblessness in the area. The Wage Curve suggests that both these beliefs are incorrect. Blanchflower and Oswald argue that the stable relationship is a downward-sloping convex curve linking local unemployment and the level of pay. Their study, one of the most intensive in the history of social science, is based on random samples that provide computerized information on nearly four million people from sixteen countries. Throughout, the authors systematically present evidence and possible explanations for their empirical law of economics.