Demanding Work — The Paradox of Job Quality in the Affluent Economy – Francis Green

Books reviewed: Demanding Work — The Paradox of Job Quality in the Affluent Economy by Francis Green. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2006, xiii + 225 pp., ISBN 0 6911 17128, £26.95.     

The Political Economy of Price Cap Regulation

The last decade has witnessed a dramatic substitutionof price cap regulation for rate-of-return regulationin the telecommunications industry. The 1996Telecommunications Act empowers state regulators toset the terms of competitive entry in local telephonemarkets. We investigate whether the form of regulationendogenously affects the regulator's behavior withrespect to competitive entry. The evidence revealsthat regulators in price cap jurisdictions tend to setmore liberal terms of entry in comparison withregulators in rate-of-return jurisdictions. Thissuggests that price cap regulation suffers fromincomplete contracting, undermining the potentiallysuperior incentive properties of this importantregulatory reform.     

The Law of the Labour Market — Industrialization,Employment, and Legal Evolution – Simon Deakin and Frank Wilkinson

Books reviewed: The Law of the Labour Market — Industrialization, Employment, and Legal Evolution by Simon Deakin and Frank Wilkinson. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, xxv + 380 pp., ISBN 0 19 8152817, £60.00.     

The Early Mobilization of Women Union Leaders — A Comparative Perspective

This article explores the initial reasons for union joining of women who became union leaders in the UK and the USA by drawing on concepts from mobilization theory and the literature on women and unions. The comparative study demonstrates similarities and differences in early mobilization influences on UK and US women with respect to family, ideology, instrumentality and injustice. Informed by the women and unions literature, the article critiques mobilization theorists for failing to problematize the term ‘injustice’ and underplaying the importance of ideology which are shown to be gendered and racialized and located in time and place.