Labour market dualism and industrial relations in Europe

This article studies the regulation of fixed‐term contracts and its effects on European industrial relations (2002–06). The study reveals a positive association between temporary employment and industrial conflict and evaluates three mechanisms that may account for this association in 18 European countries. The study reveals that the more these contracts are used, the lower the level of wages and job security workers can expect.     

Propagandists Price out Youth Labour

The Auld Committee on the Shops Act stepped outside its terms of reference to consider the fallacious economic reasoning of the unions and the Low Pay Unit by arguing in favour of retaining minimum wages and Wages Councils. Professor Stanley Dennison, formerly Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull and author of IEA Hobart Paper 101, Low Pay or No Pay?, exposes the flaws in the Auld Report.     

The Licensing Act 2003 and the Problematization of the Night‐time Economy: Planning,Licensing and Subcultural Closure in the UK

Nightlife historically has been viewed as a social problem to be contained by licensing, policing and the management of supply. In the context of recent trends towards deregulation of hours and supply, fears have again resurfaced as to the detrimental impact of the ‘night‐time economy’ on street disorder and violence, concerns that have focused attention on the Licensing Act 2003. Utilizing a case study of the regulation of nightlife in the London locality of Southview, this article will explore how there has been ongoing and renewed attention on the problems associated with the night‐time economy centred on differentiating between risky and safe cultural and economic forms. The article will argue that the Licensing Act represents a consolidation of over a decade of regulatory change that has ‘reordered’ regulatory approaches to nightlife; one that has, in combination with other aspects of economic, social and cultural change, been productive of ‘subcultural closure’.     

Labour market enforcement in the 21st century: should whistleblowers have a greater role?

Labour market enforcement can be achieved through a variety of mechanisms. On the basis that inspectorates in the UK have been under‐resourced historically and that reliance on self‐regulation is particularly objectionable in sectors that have a record of providing low pay and poor working conditions, this article explores the potential for using whistleblowing by both workers and non‐workers as a method of enforcing labour standards. The author believes that, in principle, policing by inspectors working in conjunction with unions is particularly important in industries where small firms are prevalent and individuals may feel particularly vulnerable to retaliation if they speak up. Nevertheless, given the low likelihood of government inspections and low levels of unionisation in the private sector, it is suggested that enhancing the protection given to whistleblowers who report suspected wrongdoing might deter employer non‐compliance and prove cost effective.     

A Labour win would be a roll of the dice for the economy

• ? “It depends”, the classic economist's answer, is apt in assessing the economic outcome of a Labour government. Looser fiscal policy and shifting income from capital to labour could be GDP positive. But a loss of faith in Labour's commitment to Bank of England independence could offset those gains in a mix of lost confidence, spiking interest rates and currency depreciation .
• ? We attach a 20% probability to a general election being held within the next year. The Government's precarious parliamentary position leaves it vulnerable to rebellions, particularly in passing Brexit‐related legislation. But the Fixed‐term Parliaments Act makes it difficult to force a new election, even if the Government is complicit.
• ? In the event of an election in the near term, Labour would require a significant swing in support to gain a majority. Opinion polls show little evidence of this happening, so we put the chances of a majority Labour government at no more than 10%. But the odds of either a Labour‐led coalition or minority government are around 50%.
• ? The consequences of Labour's plans for sterling are ambiguous. A looser fiscal stance should prompt the MPC to tighten monetary policy more aggressively, boosting the pound. But the Party's approach to the Bank could have the opposite effect. A rise in gilt yields is a safer prediction. But with more than half of the gilt stock held by the public sector and “captive” buyers, the scope for a major sell‐off is limited.
• ? The experience of the EU referendum suggests that a Labour victory is unlikely to cause a sudden collapse in confidence. But the drag on profitability from Labour's policies and an activist approach to foreign takeovers could cut FDI inflows, which may be bad for productivity, though it would imply a more competitive pound.
• ? Our modelling suggests that a looser fiscal stance could boost the level of GDP by 2% above our baseline view after three years, if Labour sustains market confidence. But in a “bad” Labour scenario, with central bank independence compromised, the hit to confidence, market rates and sterling would offset the gains from looser fiscal policy.

     

Ripping off Aunt Agatha: a decade of the Financial Services Act

The new Financial Services Authority will put the public interest first. These were the words of the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, when announcing that the Financial Services Act 1988 was to be overhauled and self regulation was to be abandoned. This paper argues that the regime put in place by the Act in 1988, has manifestly failed to deliver the protection that was promised to 'Aunt Agatha.' It argues that regulatory failure is ubiquitous and that the cause of this failure is that regulatory agencies are invariably captured by the people that they are supposed to be regulating. Finally, it presents an alternative to state regulation, by highlighting the considerable protections offered by the common law, by self regulation and, most importantly by a free, competitive and open market.     

Regulating Financial Services: How Severe are the Dangers?

The Financial Services Act has been variously criticised for obstructing competition and increasing operating costs for the producers of financial services in Britain. Robert R. Davis, Commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington DC, argues that there are 'public-goods' considerations to justify the imposition of the Act, and that its internal guarantees will check the growth of regulation. Len Ross, Principal Lecturer in Economics at the Polytechnic of Central London, maintains his earlier charge that the Act will do immense damage to British trade in financial services.     

Retracted: Effects of Anonymous Whistle‐Blowing and Perceived Reputation Threats on Investigations of Whistle‐Blowing Allegations by Audit Committee Members

A total of 83 experienced audit committee members participated in an experiment in which they evaluated the credibility of and allocated investigative resources towards a whistle‐blowing allegation of financial reporting malfeasance by corporate executive officers. We manipulated whether the whistle‐blowing allegation was made through anonymous or non‐anonymous channels and whether the allegation posed a relatively high or low threat to the personal reputation of the audit committee member who was charged with investigating the allegation. Results indicate that the participating audit committee members attributed lower credibility and allocated fewer investigatory resources when the whistle‐blowing report was received through an anonymous versus non‐anonymous channel, and when the allegation posed a relatively high versus low level of reputation threat. While the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 requires audit committees of publicly traded firms to provide an anonymous whistle‐blowing channel to employees, our findings suggest disturbing unintended consequences of such regulation; specifically, audit committee members might fail to sufficiently investigate whistle‐blowing allegations received through anonymous whistle‐blowing channels, particularly if the allegation poses a personal reputation threat.     

Labour Costs and the Size of Government

Given inelastic demand for labour‐intensive public services, the size of government depends positively on labour costs. OECD data exhibit a strong statistical association between government size and the business‐sector labour share of income. When the labour share is instrumented with measures of technological change, institutional variation and predetermined data it continues to positively impact government size. In contrast, transfer spending is unaffected by the labour share. The evidence is consistent with the idea that the recent decline in the labour share has contributed to the slowdown in the growth of government witnessed in much of the post‐war era.     

Simulation Estimation of the Convergence of the Black–White Earnings Gap and Income Dynamics*

In this article, the effect of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act on the convergence of the black–white earnings gap and income dynamics is studied through the dynamic panel Tobit models implemented using the simulation estimators. It is found that the black–white earnings gap declined moderately after the implementation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in 1965. Based on the simulation studies of wage trajectories, it is also found that the positive impact of the Civil Rights Act on the convergence of the black–white earnings gap is especially significant for the group of middle‐aged and highly educated workers. Moreover, the rich dynamic structure of the earnings process is identified from the Current Population Survey‐Social Security Administration data set. It is shown that the various sources of dynamics in the earnings process are dominated by spurious state dependence for both blacks and whites.     

Pricing by state‐owned enterprises: the case of postal services

Sappington and Sidak develop a model of state‐owned enterprise (SOE) pricing behavior in which firms maximize a weighted average of revenues and profits. The model predicts that SOEs will lower prices in more‐elastic markets and raise them in less‐elastic markets if the weight they place on profit is positive. The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 relaxed the institutional constraints on pricing by the US Postal Service, which allows a test of the Sappington–Sidak model. The model's predictions are broadly confirmed. Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act in 2006, which may help address some anticompetitive concerns in this industry. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technology,Labour Characteristics and Wage‐productivity Gaps*

We use plant‐level employer–employee data in production functions and wage equations to examine whether wages are based on productivity. We use a stepwise procedure to find out how the results are influenced by the kind of data that is available. The models include shares of employee groups based on age, level and field of education, and sex. The gap between the age‐related wage and productivity effects increases with age. Education increases productivity, but wage under‐compensates productivity especially for those with the highest level of non‐technical education. For women the results depend greatly on the specification and method used.     

Labour market institutions and employment in France

The purpose of this paper is to use individual data to study how the minimum wage and the welfare system combine to affect employment in France. Using the 1997 Labour Force Survey, we decompose non‐employment of married women into three components: voluntary, classical (due to the minimum wage) and ‘other’ (a residual category). We find that the minimum wage explains close to 15% of non‐employment for these women and that the disincentive effects of some welfare policy measures may be large. Our approach also allows us to evaluate various labour and welfare policy experiments in their effects on participation and employment. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

注册会计师法律责任体系的政策研究——基于《萨班斯-奥克斯利法案》的视角

安然公司破产案及其后的一系列公司财务欺诈案件,引起了美国社会各界对上市公司会计丑闻的关注。各方的压力迫使美国国会通过了《萨班斯-奥克斯利法案》。本文从分析目前我国注册会计师法律责任界定中面临的问题入手,通过考察《萨班斯-奥克斯利法案》,提出完善我国注册会计师法律责任体系的建议。     

Old Wine in Private Equity Bottles? The Resurgence of Contract‐for‐Deed Home Sales in US Urban Neighborhoods

This article describes the reemergence, in the wake of the mortgage crisis, of a predatory financial practice in predominantly black neighborhoods in the US: the contract for deed (CFD). The CFD has a notorious urban history; it was a focus of social justice organizing in 1960s Chicago, which helped lay the groundwork for advocacy that culminated in two important laws in the US: the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 and the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. This article places the reemergence of the CFD in the post‐crisis cycle of housing investment and disinvestment, estimates the minimum scale of CFD ownership, and examines the geography of a well‐known CFD seller in the Atlanta area. As policymakers in the US took efforts to restrict predatory lending fueled by private‐label securitization following the subprime crisis, capital markets shifted toward private equity financiers who provided a new supply of lightly regulated capital for urban housing markets. Predominantly black neighborhoods became prey for high‐return schemes meant to extract as much cash flow out of vulnerable residents as possible, offering them the illusion of homeownership. The findings show that the CFD seller focused on black neighborhoods and suggests that its profits from this activity have been quite lucrative.     

Local Labour Markets and Theft: New Evidence from Canada

This paper provides causal evidence that labour market opportunities affect theft‐related crime rates in Canada. Synthetic panel data from 2007–2011 combine the Labour Force Survey and Uniform Crime Reports microdata. Low‐skill unemployment rates and corresponding crime rates are measured for age‐city‐specific groups of young males. IV estimates exploit the exposure of low‐skill employment to exogenous demand for exports to the US. Causal estimates of the elasticity of theft‐related crimes with respect to low‐skill unemployment range from 0.357 to 0.654. The use of aggregated unemployment rates appears to bias OLS estimates downward. IV estimates are found to mitigate this aggregation bias.     

Do Labour Market Programmes Speed up the Return to Work?*

We evaluate the impact of labour market programmes on unemployment durations in Norway, by means of a distribution‐free mixed proportional competing risks hazard rate model. We find that programme participation, once completed, improves employment prospects, but that there is often an opportunity cost in the form of a lock‐in effect during participation. The average net effect of programme participation on the length of the job search period is found to be around zero. For participants with poor employment prospects, the favourable post‐programme effects outweigh the negative lock‐in effects.     

Occupational Labour Demand and the Sources of Non‐neutral Technical Change*

This article introduces a two‐step empirical approach for examining both the nature and sources of non‐neutral technical change across multiple occupations. First, conventional labour‐demand parameter estimates and unbiased tests for neutrality are obtained in the context of a flexible cost system. The resulting input‐specific indices of technical change, unconstrained with respect to time path, facilitate subsequent evaluation of proposed sources. In our application to employment decisions of airline firms, we find labour‐saving technical change that is non‐neutral across occupations. We also document occupation‐specific responses to aircraft technology adoption, route system developments and an unprecedented range of technical change elements.

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The Dynamics of Labour Flexibility: Relationships between Employment Type and Innovativeness

This paper investigates the relationship between flexible human resource (HR) practices and innovativeness. Testing the research model in a sample of first‐tier automotive suppliers indicates that internal flexibility practices are positively related to innovativeness. Regarding external flexibility, the association depends on the type of contingent employee: negative association for ‘short‐term hires’ and positive association for ‘consulting/contracting firms’. The relationships to innovativeness for practices associated with knowledge transfer are moderated by environmental dynamism, but the non‐knowledge related practices are not. Firms in highly dynamic environments can benefit more from flexible HR practices than firms in less dynamic environments.