The Bases of Compromise in the Workplace: A Theoretical Framework

Schemes for workplace participation have long been promoted and vilified. Such conflicting views have been brought into sharp focus by the highly variable results of such practices as teamwork. Yet a theoretical framework to grasp workplace co‐operation is lacking. This paper develops a framework on the basis of theory and a review of a wide range of empirical studies. Capital and labour each have two sets of ‘concerns’: over ‘control’ of the workplace and the longer term ‘development’ of the productive forces. Cross‐classifying these concerns produces a matrix of patterns of workplace relations. Each cell of the matrix represents a different combination of the interests of capital and labour. The matrix can be used to map participation schemes so as to capture their varying features. The next task, pursued elsewhere, is to identify the conditions leading to locations in different cells of the matrix.     

Some Economics of Integrated and Segmented Markets

For the purposes of the discussion in this paper, whether markets are integrated or segmented is endogenous and is determined by the interaction of demand parameters, tariffs, transportation costs, and arbitrage. Given certain restrictions, it is shown, in equilibrium, that policymakers choose tariffs to segment markets. The effects of trade liberalization (reducing all tariffs to zero) in an endogenous market structure framework are determined and compared to the existing literature. The results differ substantially, highlighting the importance of explicit modeling of costly arbitrage in imperfectly competitive models.     

Consumption norms,trickle-down and the video/microwave syndrome

A new method is presented for investigating empirically the presence or not of consumption norms in the ownership of durables amongst different socioeconomic groups (although the method is more generally applicable to any situation in which a number of characteristics, and not just durables, may be acquired in a specific sequence). In order to illustrate the method, some results are presented for the ownership of durables as sampled by the National Readership Survey for 1985 and 1990. As a further application of the method, particular attention is paid to the changing incidence of ownership of videos and microwaves. Both theoretically and empirically, the trickle-down model of consumer choice is critically assessed and found to be wanting.     

What are the real prospects for total EC integration?

Nothing can stop the momentum behind the movement for total European integration, or so it would seem. But what about the impact of Gemn reunijication, strong nationalistic feelings, and the socialist tradition in Europe? The authors look at what impact these might have on the move toward creation of a Single Market.