FOUR PROPOSITIONS ABOUT INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS

International labour rights organisations pay considerable attention to the working conditions in less developed countries. For labour rights activists, labour standards such as collective bargaining rights and maternal leave promote economic progress. We argue that this perspective has the causation backwards and that it is economic development that causes the codification of improved working conditions.     

A bargaining perspective on strategic outsourcing and supply competition

This article considers the outsourcing choice of a downstream firm with its own upstream production resources or assets. The novelty of the approach is to consider the outsourced function as involving resources consistent with the resource‐based view of the firm. From a bargaining perspective, we characterize a downstream firm's decision whether to outsource to an independent or to an established upstream firm. In so doing, the downstream firm faces a trade‐off between lower input costs afforded by independent competition, and higher resource value associated with those who can consolidate upstream capabilities. We show that this trade‐off is resolved in favor of outsourcing to an established firm. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Economic Impact of AIDS Treatment: Labor Supply in Western Kenya

Using longitudinal survey data collected in collaboration with a treatment program, this paper estimates the economic impacts of antiretroviral treatment. The responses in two outcomes are studied: (1) labor supply of treated adult AIDS patients; and (2) labor supply of individuals in patients' households. Within six months after treatment initiation, there is a 20 percent increase in the likelihood of the patient participating in the labor force and a 35 percent increase in weekly hours worked. Young boys in treated patients' households work significantly less after treatment initiation, while girls and adult household members do not change their labor supply.     

Technology assessment and risk analysis

The evolution of technology assessment from cost-benefit calculus to a sophisticated form of policy analysis has gone through at least three and possibly four stages. These stages, characterized by the degree of comprehensiveness aspired by the natural affinity of risk analysis to technology assessment, are explored in some detail, and it is postulated that risk analysis might very well follow a similar evolutionary path.     

‘Managerialism’, ‘ownerism’ and risk

This paper proposes that managers, having the value of their human capital dependent on the performance of the firm they manage, and being unable to diversify away this risk, are expected to attempt to reduce their employment risk internally by project selection or by income smoothing, intended to stabilize the firm's income stream. An empirical investigation shows that manager-controlled firms exercise ‘income smoothing’ to a greater extent than owner-controlled firms, have relatively lower unsystematic risk and perhaps lower systematic risk.     

Are employers pursuing value-based purchasing?

Some employers have begun to undertake a variety of initiatives, collectively termed value-based purchasing (VBP), which aim at factoring quality into the purchasing decision-making process when negotiating costs with providers and insurers. There is evidence that the VBP movement has begun gaining momentum; yet it is unclear whether employers are firmly committed to VBP principles. By surveying a national sample of employers, this study investigates the extent to which employers are currently engaged in VBP activities and also increases our understanding of barriers hampering the broader implementation of these activities.