Why Fewer Workers Join Unions in Europe: A Social Custom Explanation of Membership Trends

Can the recent decline in union density in Europe be attributed to specific economic, social or institutional causes? Can unions influence these causes and reverse decline? Using two data sources — a representative survey of Dutch employees and a data set for European countries between 1950 and 1997 — the author examines the determinants of union decline. The theoretical model is based on a social custom approach to unionization, integrating rational choice and social network theory. The empirical results show improbable small margins of union resurgence, that is, if institutional support for union representation can be maintained or regained within and beyond workplaces.     

Allocation of individuals to job levels under rationing

We augment an ordered response model for the job level at which individuals desire to work with allowance for individual reporting of a discrepancy between actual and desired job level, and we also investigate possible biases from restricting the observations to the employed, and omitting the unemployed. We find that the latter bias can be ignored and interpret this as evidence that the unemployed are not choosier than the employed. People claiming inadequate capability utilization are not markedly differently allocated than those claiming a proper match. Women's lower job levels cannot be explained from rationing by capability utilization.     

The basic needs approach to development: The question of health care for black people in Natal 1

Health care is an important facet of the basic needs approach. Health care for black people in Natal is fragmented both with regard to the responsible authority (Department of National Health and Population Development, Natal Provincial Administration, Development Services Board, local authorities and welfare clinics) and spatially (since there is an overlap with KwaZulu health services). Access to health facilities (permanent and mobile), although adequate in some areas, is insufficient in others: the deficiency is most marked in rural areas and with regard to permanent health facilities. Crucial statistical data pertaining to health status are inadequate partly because of the aforementioned fragmentation and partly because they are collected for administrative rather than monitoring purposes. Questions are posed regarding future access to health care in the light of the new constitutional dispensation, privatisation and the inadequate attention being given to primary health care.     

Monetary policy in an open economy with private debt: Another variation on theIS/LM theme

Summary In this article an amended vesion of the traditionalIS/LM-model for an open economy is developed. TheLM-curve is replace by anFM-curve, which represents equilibrium between the demand for and supply of money and bonds. The banks passively satisfy the wishes of the public as to the composition of its portfolio of money and bonds, creating or destroying money in the process. It turns out that not much is left of the well-orderedIS/LM world.     

Divergence in Part-Time Work in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark

A comparison of developments in part‐time work in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark shows three very different trends. The Dutch are moving towards a ‘part‐time economy’, the decline in Danish part‐time employment confounds the common expectation of rising atypical employment, while the New Zealand case illustrates some of the negative employment outcomes often associated with part‐time employment and provides a contrast to the negotiated, tripartite solutions found in the Netherlands and Denmark. Overall, the diversity in part‐time work patterns raises important theoretical and public policy questions, such as the interaction between institutional and preference changes, gender patterns and union strategies.     

The identification of towns in the Free State for an urban upgrading and development programme: A proposed method for consideration

This article describes how small towns in the Free State were assessed for a German‐South African urban upgrading and development programme. The assessment first determined where the programme would have a significant impact on the recipient community and, secondly, where it would have a high probability of success. Two criteria were used: quantitative (settlement types, demographic and economic trends, financial and management capacity and performance, and access to services and housing) and qualitative (level of community‐based participation in existing projects, the spirit of the place, economic potential and delivery record in terms of projects). These criteria reduced the number of appropriate towns to eight. A provincial steering committee (representing the political dimension) was appointed to incorporate the towns into the programme. They are representative of towns across the province, as well as a variety of settlement types. This method can be considered on a provincial or regional basis elsewhere for evaluating and ranking small towns for development support.     

Configurations of human resource practices and battlefield performance: A comparison of two armies

A prominent theme in the HRM literature is the organizational impact of configurations or “bundles” of human resource practices, mostly researched in business firms. A recurrent empirical finding here is that configurations of high performance HR practices generally have a more positive effect on employee attitudes and behavior and on organizational performance than configurations of traditional HR practices. In this paper this research is extended beyond business firms to include army organizations. Specifically it is argued, first, that these two configurations are exemplified in respectively the German Army and the US Army in World War II and second, that these configurations can be reasonably related to a relatively more effective battlefield performance of the German versus the US Army, even in spite of final defeat.