The Political Economy of Reform Lessons from Pensions, Product Markets and Labour Markets in Ten OECD Countries

The Political Economy of Reform Lessons from Pensions, Product Markets and Labour Markets in Ten OECD Countries PDF Author: Tompson William
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264073116
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 501

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Book Description
By looking at 20 reform efforts in ten OECD countries, this report examines why some reforms are implemented and other languish.

The Political Economy of Reform Lessons from Pensions, Product Markets and Labour Markets in Ten OECD Countries

The Political Economy of Reform Lessons from Pensions, Product Markets and Labour Markets in Ten OECD Countries PDF Author: Tompson William
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264073116
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 501

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Book Description
By looking at 20 reform efforts in ten OECD countries, this report examines why some reforms are implemented and other languish.

The Political Economy of Labour Market Institutions

The Political Economy of Labour Market Institutions PDF Author: Gilles Saint-Paul
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198293321
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
According to most orthodox economists, labour market rigidities are the key culprit for such high unemployment as has been observed in Europe during the past three decades. But governments that have attempted to follow the standard prescription of removing rigidities have often faced harsh political opposition. This book looks at why labour market institutions such as employment protection, unemployment benefits, and relative wage rigidities exist, what role they play in society, why they seem so persistent, where the pressure to reform them comes from, and whether reform can be politically viable or not. The book ascribes a central role to the existence of underlying microeconomic frictions and to redistributive pressures between rich and poor, and shows how these ingredients may give rise to labour market rents, which in turn explain why a coherent set of rigidities arise as the outcome of the political process. It is also shown that, at the same time, such rents create resistance to reform, and contribute to locking society into a high-unemployment, rigid equilibrium. Finally, the basic principles exposed in the book are used to discuss various strategies for a successful labour market reform.

Strong Governments, Precarious Workers

Strong Governments, Precarious Workers PDF Author: Philip Rathgeb
Publisher: ILR Press
ISBN: 1501730592
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Why do some European welfare states protect unemployed and inadequately employed workers ("outsiders") from economic uncertainty better than others? Philip Rathgeb’s study of labor market policy change in three somewhat-similar small states—Austria, Denmark, and Sweden—explores this fundamental question. He does so by examining the distribution of power between trade unions and political parties, attempting to bridge these two lines of research—trade unions and party politics—that, with few exceptions, have advanced without a mutual exchange. Inclusive trade unions have high political stakes in the protection of outsiders, because they incorporate workers at risk of unemployment into their representational outlook. Yet, the impact of union preferences has declined over time, with a shift in the balance of class power from labor to capital across the Western world. National governments have accordingly prioritized flexibility for employers over the social protection of outsiders. As a result, organized labor can only protect outsiders when governments are reliant on union consent for successful consensus mobilization. When governments have a united majority of seats, on the other hand, they are strong enough to exclude unions. Strong Governments, Precarious Workers calls into question the electoral responsiveness of national governments—and thus political parties—to the social needs of an increasingly numerous group of precarious workers. In the end, Rathgeb concludes that the weaker the government, the stronger the capacity of organized labor to enhance the social protection of precarious workers.

The Role of Business in the Development of the Welfare State and Labor Markets in Germany

The Role of Business in the Development of the Welfare State and Labor Markets in Germany PDF Author: Thomas Paster
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136498036
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
This book assesses the role of employers in the development of welfare state and labour market institutions. Building on an in-depth analysis of Germany, a market economy known to often provide economic benefits to firms, this book explores one of the most contested issues in the comparative and historical literature on the welfare state. In a departure from existing employer-centered explanations, the author applies new empirical data to contend that the variation in acceptance of social reform depends more on changes in the types of political challenges faced by employers, than on changes in the type of institutions considered economically beneficial. Covering major reforms spanning more than a century of institutional development in unemployment insurance, accident insurance, pensions, collective bargaining, and codetermination, this book argues that employers support social policy as a means to contain political outcomes that would have been worse, including labour unrest and more radical reform plans. Using new and controversial findings on the role of employers in welfare state development, this book considers the conditions for a peaceful coexistence of a generous welfare state and the business world. The Role of Business in the Development of the Welfare State and Labor Markets in Germany will be of interest to students and scholars of welfare and social policy politics, political economy and European politics.

Labour Law Reforms in India

Labour Law Reforms in India PDF Author: Anamitra Roychowdhury
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 135105886X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Labour market flexibility is one of the most closely debated public policy issues in India. This book provides a theoretical framework to understand the subject, and empirically examines to what extent India’s ‘jobless growth’ may be attributed to labour laws. There is a pervasive view that the country’s low manufacturing base and inability to generate jobs is primarily due to rigid labour laws. Therefore, job creation is sought to be boosted by reforming labour laws. However, the book argues that if labour laws are made flexible, then there are adverse consequences for workers: dismantled job security weakens workers’ bargaining power, incapacitates trade union movement, skews class distribution of output, dilutes workers’ rights, and renders them vulnerable. The book: identifies and critically examines the theory underlying the labour market flexibility (LMF) argument employs innovative empirical methods to test the LMF argument offers an overview of the organised labour market in India comprehensively discusses the proposed/instituted labour law reforms in the country contextualises the LMF argument in a macroeconomic setting discusses the political economy of labour law reforms in India. This book will interest scholars and researchers in economics, development studies, and public policy as well as economists, policymakers, and teachers of human resource management.

The Political Economy of Labour Market Reforms

The Political Economy of Labour Market Reforms PDF Author: Özgün Sar?mehmet Duman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137382627
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
Duman examines the transition from Keynesianism to monetarism by presenting an analysis of labour market reforms in Greece and Turkey - questioning the role of class struggle on the implementation process. She also scrutinises the influence of the global economic crisis and the execution of reform policies in these two countries.

Structural Reforms

Structural Reforms PDF Author: Jakob de Haan
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319744003
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
This book presents a selection of contributions on the timely topic of structural reforms in Western economies, written by experts from central banks, the International Monetary Fund, and leading universities. It includes latest research on the impacts of structural reforms on the market economy, especially on the labor market, and investigates the results of collective bargaining in theory and practice. The book also comprises case studies of structural reforms. A literature survey on the topic serves as a valuable source for further research. The book is written by and targeted at both academics and policy makers.

Political, Economic And Social Dimensions Of Labour Markets: A Global Insight

Political, Economic And Social Dimensions Of Labour Markets: A Global Insight PDF Author: Soon Beng Chew
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 981123888X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
Why and how do politics, society and economics shape the growth and failure of labour markets? Does government intervention help or harm labour market reforms/adjustments in times of economic downturn? What forces drive such government intervention and do they differ from society to society?In addressing these big-picture questions, this book's analytical scope is heavily centred around the topic of labour markets' performance. The book argues that performance in labour markets across countries are influenced by their labour market policies. In turn, these policies are shaped, in varying degrees, by the country's politics. Each chapter in this book dives into the labour market experiences in various countries to demonstrate why in some countries, labour markets perform better than in other countries. Major findings from this book suggest that countries can produce better economic and social outcomes (e.g. lower socio-economic inequality) if their labour market policies are aimed at fostering a socially and politically stable society via greater equity in wealth distribution across various socio-cultural and income groups.This book is an essential read for any public policy researchers, policy practitioners and undergraduate/graduate students who are interested or vested in the topic of labour markets' performance in the political, social and economic dimensions. Particularly, this book provides a critical synthesis of the labour market experiences in many countries. Hence, the book serves as an ideational tool to advance future labour market research and policy.

Employment Protection Deregulation and Labor Shares in Advanced Economies

Employment Protection Deregulation and Labor Shares in Advanced Economies PDF Author: Gabriele Ciminelli
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484373723
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
Labor market deregulation, intended to boost productivity and employment, is one plausible, yet little studied, driver of the decline in labor shares that took place across most advanced economies since the early 1990s. This paper assesses the impact of job protection deregulation in a sample of 26 advanced economies over the period 1970-2015, using a newly constructed dataset of major reforms to employment protection legislation for regular contracts. We apply the local projection method to estimate the dynamic response of the labor share to our reform events at both the country and the country-industry levels. For the latter, we employ a differences-in-differences identification strategy using two identifying assumptions grounded in theory—namely that job protection deregulation should have larger negative effects in industries characterized by (i) a higher “natural” propensity to adjust the workforce, and (ii) a lower elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. We find a statistically significant, economically large and robust negative effect of deregulation on the labor share. In particular, illustrative back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that job protection deregulation may have contributed about 15 percent to the average labor share decline in advanced economies. Together with existing evidence regarding the macroeconomic gains from job protection and other labor market reforms, our results also point to the need for policymakers to address efficiency-equity trade-offs when designing such reforms.

Handbook of Development Economics

Handbook of Development Economics PDF Author: Dani Rodrick
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080931723
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1066

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Book Description
What guidance does academic research really provide to economic policy development? The critical and analytical surveys in this volume investigate links between policies and outcomes by surveying work from broad macroeconomic policies to interventions in microfinance. Asserting that there are no universal correspondences between policies and outcomes, contributors demonstrate instead that only an intense familiarity with the development context and the universe of applicable economic models can generate successful policies. Getting cause-and-effect right is essential for policy design and implementation. With the goal of drawing researchers and policy makers closer, this volume highlights our increasing understanding of ways to combine economic theorizing with careful, thoughtful empirical work. - Presents an accurate, self-contained survey of the current state of the field - Summarizes the most recent discussions, and elucidates new developments - Although original material is also included, the main aim is the provision of comprehensive and accessible surveys