Earning Curves and Wage Curves

Using British county data for full-time male manual workers we extend earlier work to investigate wage and earning curves. We distinguish between total earnings and hourly wages for standard hours, uncontaminated by overtime premium. Using data from 1980–1995 we find that earnings behaviour is dominated by volatile hours in the short run, while wage growth is highly sensitive to the level of unemployment as in the classical Phillips curve with macro data. Macro evidence for sticky wages is thus confirmed at the local level, and the wage curve of rapid adjustment is rejected for normal hourly wages.     

The potential impact of abolishing company tax in Ciskei

The purpose of this paper is to examine the likely effect of the abolition of company tax on the Ciskeian economy. After considering the case for and against a corporate tax exemption, the issues involved are analysed on two levels. Using aggregate data, drawn from available census data, we find that most firms seem likely either to prefer the existing package of industrial concessions to the tax holiday, or to be indifferent to either option. Similarly, a recent survey of manufacturing enterprises in Ciskei indicated that the majority would prefer the incentive package. Firms that might be attracted by the tax‐free option are likely to be relatively profitable, subsidiaries of multinational companies, and enjoying a higher turnover per worker than firms opting for the incentive package.     

Bank Growth Choices and Changes in Market Performance

Changes in bank market performance are compared for banks that choose not to grow, to branch, bank acquire, product expand, or some combination. Using the change in market value‐to‐book value ratios, banks that include acquiring other banks as part of their growth strategy have significant positive changes in performance. Positive performance by bank acquirers is in contrast to many studies, but prior research has not reviewed other growth activities in a single model, nor used market‐based measures to review performance over longer time periods following bank expansion.     

Jointism and the Role of the Workplace Union in the auto-components Industry

This article is part of a case study history, from the British auto-components industry involving a changing workplace regime from the late 1970s through to the 1990s. Employing the concepts of 'dual commitment' and 'incorporation' we explore, partly through the voices of participants, the process of involvement in that regime. We consider the implications for how trade unions might respond to policies on 'jointism', and for management vis-a-vis the choices on union involvement or anti union strategies.     

Wage protection systems, segregation and gender pay inequalities: West Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain

This paper provides an empirical test of Rubery and Fagan's(1995) hypothesis that gender inequalities are influenced primarilyby the comprehensiveness of the overall wage protection systemin a country and by the extent of gender segregation. Genderdiscrimination in earnings is compared in West Germany, theNetherlands and Great Britain using 1989 ISSP data. Human capitalearnings functions for married males and married females areestimated. Discrimination is measured using standard decompositiontechniques. Earnings discrimination against females in the morecomprehensive systems was 37% in West Germany and 39% in theNetherlands, much less than the 61% found for the less comprehensivelyregulated Great Britain, the latter figure being higher thanprevious estimates using earlier data. Gender segregation isdemonstrated to have contributed to the relative magnitude ofdiscrimination in Great Britain.