Emerging Consensus on Labour Market Institutions and Implications for Developing Countries: From the Debates in India

Abstract

This paper makes a critical intervention to on-going theoretical and policy debates in the economic analysis of labour market institutions (LMIs) in the context of recent debates in India. It focuses on the internal inconsistency of mainstream economic analyses of LMIs, in particular those based on the new institutional economics (NIE) approach, and what appears to be an emerging policy consensus on LMIs within the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The paper draws out the possible ideological parallels in these two developments, despite different intellectual origins and intentions of those engaged in these debates. A corresponding modification in policy debates in India is observed in the shifting perspectives from the Second National Commission on Labour (SNCL) to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS). The apparent emerging consensus in both the theoretical literature and policy debates reveals the tendency for researchers to focus on labour market outcomes and phenomenal forms of LMIs rather than the structures, processes, agencies and relations that underpin them. While this can be seen as an advancement from the traditional distortionist-institutionalist dichotomy, the tendency of this consensus to explain the persistence of seemingly inefficient institutions within the micro-level choice theoretic framework and its appeal to policy agendas on good governance, social capital, trust and civil society, render it vulnerable to appropriation by the mainstream. The paper argues that the emerging consensus on LMIs is an inadequate framework to inform effective policy propositions, and highlights the scope and opportunity for a political economy alternative.     

Displacement Effects of Active Labour Market Policy: The Youth Labour Market in Finland

In 1994 the number of workers participating in active labour market programmes in Finland was 299,000. On average there where 125,000 workers in these programmes at any one time, the average length of participation in a programme being about 5 months. In relation to the 2.5 million-strong Finnish labour force, these figures are proportionally large. In 1994 the total expenditure on unemployment amounted to 6.7 per cent of GNP of which the share spent on active labour market programmes was about 25 per cent. The study investigates the displacement effects of active labour market programmes in the youth labour market in Finland. The two age groups analysed are 15-19-year-olds and 20-24-year-olds. The results, based on a VAR analysis of quarterly data from the period 1981.1-1995.2, suggest that the displacement effects of job-creation programmes may be substantial. The study cannot, however, provide any robust estimates of the likely size of such displacement effects on youth employment in Finland. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

States and the Political Economy of Unfree Labour

A growing body of academic and policy research seeks to understand and address the problem of contemporary unfree labour. In this article, we argue that this literature could be strengthened by a stronger conceptualization of, and more systematic attention towards, the role of national states. In particular, we argue that there is a need to move beyond simplistic conceptualisations of states as simple agents of regulation and criminal justice enforcement who respond to the problem of unfree labour, and to recognize the causal and multifaceted role that national states play in creating the conditions in which unfree labour can flourish. We propose a framework to understand and compare the ways in which national states shape the political economy of unfree labour. Focusing on the United States, we outline three arenas of governance in which national states have been particularly central to enabling the conditions for unfree labour: the regulation of labour mobility, labour market regulation, and business regulation. We conclude by reflecting on the comparative political economy research that will be required to understand the role of different states in shaping the conditions in which unfree labour thrives or is eliminated.     

Labour market discrimination and the macroeconomy

We measure the discriminatory ethnic and gender wage gaps in Georgia. Gender wage discrimination is larger than the ethnic wage discrimination. We use the estimated gaps in a general‐to‐specific vector autoregression framework to test for Granger causality between discrimination and growth, and estimate the long‐run effects of each variable on the other. Granger causality is found to be bidirectional, but it is only the net long‐run effect of discrimination on growth that is a large and highly significant negative effect. In the long‐run, a 10% increase in ethnic (gender) discrimination reduces economic growth by 3%–4% (8%–10%). Additionally, ethnic and gender wage differentials are found to be counter‐cyclical.     

The Effectiveness and Efficiency of Active Labour Market Policies in Poland

Following the predominance of macroeconomic stabilisation policies and passive income support schemes in the first phase of transition, active labour market policies (ALMPs) have now come to play a more important role in transition economies. This paper looks at the Polish experience and provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of ALMPs. We use the Polish Labour Force Survey of August 1994 in combination with its Supplement on the Evaluation of Labour Market Policies together with data on ALMP expenditure at the regional (voivodship) level. The macroeconometric analysis of the relationship between labour market flows and ALMP expenditure shows no significant effects. The microeconometric analysis reveals that ALMPs are not particularly well targeted at the problem groups in the labour market. That is, women and people with basic vocational education do not receive enough attention. As to the effectiveness of ALMPs, the paper shows that former participants cannot expect to find employment more easily than their peers who have been unemployed but have not been in a programme. Subjective evaluations of former participants also suggest that ALMPs, but especially works programmes, have not improved their chances to find a job. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

公司金融理论在我国的研究现状

随着我国经济的发展,西方公司金融理论在我国的应用也日益增多.西方经典公司金融理论的使用前提是完全理性市场,而我国资本市场和公司治理结构还很不完善,因此简单照搬西方公司金融理论来研究我国的公司金融问题,则研究结果往往是不可信的.本文首先简述了西方经典公司金融理论的发展过程并指出了其研究的前提条件,然后回顾了我国公司金融研究的实际情况,在此基础上指出了西方公司金融的理论前提与我国上市公司治理结构现状之间存在的种种区别,最后说明在我国公司金融研究中,一定要注意到我国公司特有的治理结构和资本市场的有效性.     

An Empirical Study on Corporate Governance and Market Valuation in China

This paper empirically studies the relationship between the governance mechanisms and the market valuation of publicly listed firms in China. The authors construct measures for corporate governance mechanisms and measures of market valuation for all publicly listed firms on the two stock markets in China by using data from the firm’s annual reports. They then investigate how the market-valuation variables are affected by the corporate governance variables while controlling for a number of factors commonly considered in market valuation analysis. A corporate governance index is also constructed to summarize the information contained in the corporate governance variables. The index is found to have statistically and economically significant effects on market valuation. The analysis indicates that investors pay a significant premium for well-governed firms in China, benefiting firms that improve their governance mechanisms. Translated from Economic Research Journal, 2005, 2 (in Chinese)     

Nation-State Size,Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance in the Advanced Capitalist Countries

This paper examines the proposition that the economic performance of advanced capitalist countries depends on their size and ethnic composition. As such it blends insights from two important literatures in comparative political economy. One is exemplified by the work of Peter Katzenstein, who wrote the classic treatise on the relationship between nation-state size and economic performance. Another is illustrated by the work of Ernest Gellner, whose work suggested that economic performance depends on the ethnic composition of the nation-state. The argument is tested on pooled data from 30 advanced capitalist countries for the 1985 through 2007 period. Regression analysis confirms that ethnically homogenous countries tend to have stronger rates of economic growth during this period than ethnically heterogeneous countries but that neither the size of countries nor the interaction of size and ethnic composition have significant effects. This points to the need for further exploration of these issues either with data covering a longer time frame or historical case studies.     

中小企业公司治理结构及其融资研究

从1995年以来,建立现代企业制度已成为国有企业改革的重中之重,而与国有企业相比,规模小、力量薄但却创造了中国60%以上工业产值的中小企业是否需要建立现代企业制度呢?是否需要考虑公司治理结构问题呢?如果要建立,该怎样建立?理顺了公司治理结构,又对中小企业解决资金不足问题,有哪些影响呢?针对这些问题,在理论探讨的基础上,结合实例分析,力求为中小企业的发展提出一些合理建议。     

New Labour at work: long-term unemployment and the geography of opportunity

New Labour has placed great faith in active labour market policiesto address problems of long-term unemployment and poverty. Thispaper considers the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programmesin light of persistent regional employment disparities withinthe UK. It is argued that the government has proceeded froma flawed analysis of the causes and magnitude of long-term unemployment,framing the issue in terms of ‘worklessness’ andneglecting demand-side concerns of job availability and jobquality.     

完善公司治理有赖于有效的资本市场

现代市场经济中，有效的资本市场成为委托人监督代理人的主要路径依赖，成为完善公司治理的一个重要环节。我国资本市场由于制度设计上的缺陷，不能对上市公司的规范经营形成有效的约束，不利于上市公司治理的改进和完善；我国上市公司治理的不建全，除与公司内部治理结构的不合理有关外，还与公司运营的资本环境的不完善有关。完善我国上市公司的治理有赖于有效的资本市场。     

金融市场的分形和混沌研究综述

主流的金融计量理论是以价格的随机游走和收益的正态分布假设为基础的,而时金融市场价格的分形和混沌研究,则从非线性的角度揭示金融价格的波动规律,并对主流金融计量理论提出了争议和挑战.本文对金融市场的分形和混沌研究做了全面综述,并进行了评价和展望.阐述了这些研究的意义,揭示了经济变量和金融市场价格的非线性特征,并对其机制进行了深入分析.不足之处是这些研究还不能很好地应用于实际经济和金融过程,去解决实际的问题.在定价、建模和预测方面还面临很多困难.对金融市场的非线性研究,让我们对现实世界的理解更加深入和精细.但这些研究并不意味着否定传统经济学理论.正是在不同理论的不断争论和互相印证的过程中,推动金融计量理论不断向前发展.     

资本市场作用机制下的公司治理研究

公司治理具有两个层面--内部公司治理和外部公司治理.外部公司治理主要是强调资本市场对公司经营活动的制约.从外部环境出发,以资本市场作用机理的角度来分析公司治理,结合当前具体国情,来系统研究资本市场作用机制下的公司治理,目的是提供资本市场公司治理机制的分析架构,并提出若干建议以优化我国的公司治理.     

和谐社会与公共财政建设

作为与社会、经济紧密相联的公共财政,在构建社会主义和谐社会中要担当其重要职责:致力于为构建和谐社会服务;公共财政本身运行应当和谐。公共财政要运用一系列财税政策及其组合促进市场机制和经济有效和谐运行,促进人与人之间、人与自然的和谐。财政自身的和谐主要包括制度和谐和运行和谐,要以公共服务为目标深化财税体制及运行机制改革,进一步完善分级分税的财政管理体制、预算管理制度和税收制度,并按照民主、法治、公平、公开的原则促进公共财政的和谐运行。     

完善我国上市公司治理结构的路径选择

本考证了两种典型的公司治理模式的特征，效率和演变趋势，结合我国上市公司的股权结构分析了公司治理结构，并得出结论：现实的国情和西方公司治理的演变趋势决定了完善我国上市公司治理结构的路戏只能是首先完善公司内部治理结构，未来应朝着以内部治理的主、外部治理为辅的博采众长的混合模式的方向发展。     

Second‐Generation Immigrants in the Swedish Labour Market

This study focuses on the labour market performance among second‐generation immigrants in Sweden. One motivation behind the analysis is that it gives insight into the long‐term consequences of immigration. Labour market performance relates the probability of having a job, referred to here as a threshold effect and to the differences in income from work, given that a person is in the market and is referred to as an income from work effect. We have shown that a clear threshold effect of being a second‐generation immigrant exists and that different groups of second‐generation immigrants perform differently in the Swedish labour market.     

行为额外性视角政府补助对企业合作创新的驱动机制 ——公司治理与要素市场的调节作用

以2010—2018年中国沪深A股490家制造业上市公司为研究样本,从行为额外性视角,研究政府补助对企业合作创新的驱动机制,并进一步分析公司治理与要素市场因素在其中的调节作用,研究发现:第一,政府补助可从资金、信号、项目三方面作用驱动企业合作创新的形成;第二,公司治理水平越高,政府补助驱动机制越能得到有效放大,从而进一步驱动企业间合作创新;第三,所在要素市场发育程度越高,市场资源配置越加合理,企业更加倾向于采取R&D活动来获得超额收益,政府补助也越能发挥更好的资源引导驱动作用.本文的研究发现为全面了解政府补助作用机制、调控政府补助实施效果及促进制造企业加快转型升级提供一定的理论支持与参考.     

建筑行业包工制：农村劳动力使斥与城市空间生产的制度逻辑

本文试图通过对中国建筑行业普遍存在的包工制——其固有特征、运行逻辑、兴盛原因——的分析,运用马克思主义语境下的劳动力的使用与再生产这一视角重述空间政治经济学在中国的地方性实践,探索城市空间生产的制度逻辑。作者认为,包工制的再次兴盛是农民工“拆分型的劳动力使用模式”在空间生产领域中的具体体现,通过包工制度,原本在户籍制度限制之下割裂的农村劳动力的使用与再生产被纳入一个更受限制的空间,它将再生产策略与中国空间和地理的不平等相结合,既满足了城市的发展需要,又满足了资本的弹性积累需要。然而,由此而来的危机所导致的社会冲突随着经济的高速发展愈演愈烈,这些危机终究难以通过将非正式用工普遍化的包工制度得到彻底解决,在城市空间发展和资本积累过程中保障社会和谐的根本力量在于相关制度法规的建立健全和贯彻执行以及城市对于农民工劳动力再生产的承担。     

农村劳动力流动与缓解贫困——基于甘肃省贫困地区的实证分析

农村劳动力流动对农户家庭收入、消费、农业生产投入和农村生态产生了积极影响,改善了劳动者本人的人力资本水平,提高了其自我发展的能力。当前教育和医疗成为致贫的主要原因,这对建立适应农村的教育体制和农村医疗保障制度提出了迫切要求。     

试论我国财务报告改进的原则与方法

财务报告是财务工作的最终成果，是对企业财务状况、经营成果及现金流量的全面总结。目前，我国财务报告体系仍存诸多缺陷，亟待改进。而财务报告的改进应遵循以改革为先导、满足需求、有效披露、成本与效益衡量判断等原则；在改进方法上，突出会计系统内部与外部环境的同步完善。