Co-operation or Control? Capital Restructuring and Labour Relations on the Docks

The abolition of the National Dock Labour Scheme in July 1989 resulted in a massive restructuring of Britain's ports which in many respects has mirror-imaged that of the rest of the economy over the previous decade. In this context, the growth of small firms in the port transport industry since 1989, and in particular the emergence of workers' co-operatives, can only be explained as a process through which capital has sought to regain or strengthen control over the labour process and offset the (highly variable) costs of fluctuating labour demand. The result has been increased productivity and control for the port authorities that own Britain's ports.     

Strategy,Structure and Control In the Changing Corporation: A Survey-Based Investigation

Paul Marginson, Paul Edwards, Peter Armstrong and John Purcell draw on the findings of IRRU's Company Level Industrial Relations Survey to investigate the business structure, budgetary control systems and strategic orientations of large companies in the UK. Companies’ internal structure, and their systems of budgetary control, are shown to be associated with the kind of diversification strategy they are pursuing. Both external change, such as acquisition, and organic change are widespread across all types of firm as is the consequent internal reorganisation. They discuss the implications of the different strategic orientations and structural arrangements, and the rapidity of organisational change, for human resource policy. Paul Marginson and Paul Edwards are respectively Senior Lecturer and Professor of Industrial Relations at the Warwick Business School and Associate Fellow and Deputy Director of its Industrial Relations Research Unit; Peter Armstrong is Senior Lecturer in the Management School at the University of Sheffield; and John Purcell is University Lecturer in Management Studies and Fellow of Templeton College, Oxford.     

PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC SECTOR ENTERPRISES IN PAKISTAN: PROSPECTS FOR REDUCING REGIONAL IMBALANCES*

This paper tests the somewhat counterintuitive hypothesis that public firms are more efficient than their private sector counterparts. A factor analysis (9 industrial groups/34 industries) indicated that for all Pakistani provinces, public enterprises contributed relatively more value added which supports the findings of Naqvi and Kamal. The paper also concludes that a policy to reduce Pakistan's regional income disparities by privatizing public enterprises would likely be ineffective.     

Does trade unionism have a future in Russia?

Official Russian trade unions seek to maintain their traditional privileges and resources, while alternative unions have remained marginal and relatively ineffectual. The result is that workers are not effectively represented by either type of union. This argument is supported by extensive original research, examining the recent history of Russian unionism.     

The Population Dimension in the Intergenerational Reports

The demographic assumptions and outcomes in the three successive Intergenerational Reports have differed enormously. This has brought a degree of derision upon the production of these reports in the serious press. Furthermore, the Intergenerational Reports’ projections of labour force participation rates have proven to be very wrong in the short term. The fourth Intergenerational Report will need to address this credibility gap. This article analyses the reasons that the Intergenerational Reports’ projections have been wide of the mark and makes suggestions about future approaches.     

INTERNATIONAL WELFARE AND EMPLOYMENT LINKAGES ARISING FROM MINIMUM WAGES*

We formulate a two‐country model with monopolistic competition and heterogeneous firms to reconsider labor market linkages in open economies. Labor market imperfections arise by virtue of country‐specific real minimum wages. Abstracting from selection of just the best firms into export status, standard effects on marginal and average firm productivity are reversed in our model, yet there are significant gains from trade arising from employment expansion. In addition, we show that with firm heterogeneity an increase in one country’s minimum wage triggers firm exit in both countries and thus harms workers at home and abroad.     

The irrelevance of normative considerations for founding an Austrian law and economics: Reply to Marciano

In a comment on my paper, ??An Austrian approach to law and economics, with special reference to superstition?? (Leeson 2012), Marciano contends that Posnerian foundations ??may be problematic for an Austrian approach to law and economics??. In this reply I argue that the differences between Posner and Austrians that Marciano uses as the basis for his contention are normative. If, as Austrians claim, Austrian economics is purely positive, those differences are irrelevant to the appropriate foundations for an Austrian law and economics. They pose no problem for a Posnerian founding.