Documents Kaufman, Bruce E. 28 results

"In the post-World War II period the spearhead of opposition to minimum wage (MW) legislation has been economists associated with the Chicago School, such as Friedman, Stigler, and Becker. They have captured the high ground in the debate partly by claiming their anti-MW position is grounded in the free market/invisible hand theory espoused by the founder of economics, Adam Smith. This paper shows the Chicago position rests on a skewed, one-sided, and partisan reading of Smith's Wealth of Nations. A more inclusive, balanced, and neutral review reveals that while Smith definitely favored free trade and opposed protection as general principles, his non-competitive model of labor markets, dynamic theory of production, and humanistic social welfare criteria suggest that on both positive and normative grounds he might well have favored a minimum wage set at the poverty level. (Smith never took a position on a MW mandate). Besides balancing and correcting the historical record, the paper broadens MW analysis by reintroducing several behavioral and institutional dimensions emphasized by Smith but typically neglected in the current mainline debate which narrowly focuses on competitive versus monopsony models. A Smithian analysis also has several implications for findings from empirical MW studies."

"Prominent writers in industrial relations (IR) have concluded the field is in significant decline, partly because of a failed theory base. The theory problem is deepened because other writers conclude developing a theory foundation for industrial relations is neither possible nor desirable. We believe advancing IR theory is both needed and possible, and take up the challenge in this paper.A long-standing problem in theorizing industrial relations has been the lack of agreement on the field's core analytical construct. However, in the last two decades writers have increasingly agreed the field is centred on the employment relationship. Another long-standing problem is that writers have theorized industrial relations using different theoretical frames of reference, including pluralist and radical-Marxist; different disciplinary perspectives, such as economics, sociology, history, and politics; and from different national traditions, such as British, French, and American.In this paper, we seek to advance IR theory and better integrate paradigms and national traditions. We do this by developing an analytical explanation for four core features of the employment relationship—generation of an economic surplus, cooperation-conflict dialectic, indeterminate nature of the employment contract, and asymmetric authority and power in the firm—using an integrative mix of ideas and concepts from the pluralist and radical-Marxist streams presented in a multi-part diagram constructed with marginalist tools from conventional economics. The diagram includes central IR system components, such as labour market, hierarchical firm, macro-economy, and nation state government. The model is used to explain the four features of the employment relationship and derive implications for IR theory and practice. Examples include the diagrammatic representation of the size and distribution of the economic surplus, a new analytical representation of labour exploitation, identification of labour supply conditions that encourage, respectively, cooperation versus conflict, and demonstration of how inequality of bargaining power in labour markets contributes to macroeconomic stagnation and unemployment."

"In the last decade, nonunion employee representation (NER) has become a much discussed topic in the fields of human resource management, employment relations, and employment/labor law. This book examines the purpose, structure, and performance of various types of employee representation bodies created by companies in non-union settings to promote collective forums for voice and involvement at the workplace.



This unique volume presents the first longitudinal evidence on the performance, success, and failure of NER plans over an extended time period. Consisting of twelve detailed, in-depth case studies of actual NER plans in operation across four countries, this volume provides unparalleled evidence on such matters as: the motives behind the initial establishment of NER, different organizational forms of NER in industry, key success and failure factors over the long-term, pro and con evaluations for employers and employees, and more. Voice and Involvement at Work captures an unequalled international and comparative perspective through a wide cross-section of different NER forms."

"This paper develops a model which explains breadth and depth of firms' demand for employee voice. The theory innovation is to model employee voice as a factor input in production and derive a voice demand curve. Differences in voice productivity determinants across firms act as shift factors and cause cross-section variation in voice demand curves which translates into an empirically observable voice frequency distribution. Insights from institutional economics are incorporated to show that transition from a nonunion to union form of voice may cause a large discontinuity in the demand curve. Other contributions include: sharpened definition and delineation of the employee voice construct, use of the voice frequency distribution as a dependent variable in empirical research, graphical representation of the firm's benefit-cost choice of voice, distinction between employee voice as communication and influence (muscle) and graphical demonstration of conditions under which one is preferred to the other, clarification of the participation/representation gap concept, and policy insights regarding pros and cons of the regulation of employee voice in American labor law."

"The authors identify 10 core principles of industrial relations (IR) theory and policy, based on the writings of British IR founders Beatrice Webb and Sidney Webb and U.S. IR founder John Commons. These principles are then represented diagrammatically in an expanded IR version of the Marshallian demand/supply (DS) model. The DS and IR models, representing on one side the merits of abstraction and parsimony and on the other realism and complexity, are applied to a case study: an analysis and explanation of the reasons behind the formation of the Australian IR system in the 1890s and its evolution to 2010. Although the DS model captures important forces behind the shift from a centralized and unionized employment system in the early period to a significantly decentralized and deunionized system in the latter period, the evidence indicates the extra structural and behavioral elements in the IR model are important for a full and accurate explanation. "

"The author identifies the core principle that forms the theoretical and policy foundation for the field of industrial relations—that labor is embodied in human beings and is not a commodity—and argues that the field's two central dependent variables are labor problems and the employment relationship. Next, he uses this core principle, along with complementary ideas from institutional economics, to develop a theoretical framework that not only explains the nature of the employment relationship and labor problems but also reveals shortcomings in related theories from labor economics and human resource management. Finally, this framework is used to derive the “fundamental theorem” of industrial relations, demonstrate that optimal economic performance occurs in a mixed economy of imperfect labor markets and organizations, and show that a certain amount of labor protectionism promotes economic efficiency and human welfare."

"Sidney and Beatrice Webb are commonly cited as the founders of the British field of industrial relations. Are they, however, if the field is centred not on study of unions and collective bargaining but rather on the entire employment relationship? A ‘qualified yes' answer is given; however, getting there involves major revision to the conventional historiography of the field. To illustrate, the article presents a traditional and revised family tree of British industrial relations. Numerous insights and implications follow."

"Sidney and Beatrice Webb are commonly cited as the founders of the British field of industrial relations. Are they, however, if the field is centred not on study of unions and collective bargaining but rather on the entire employment relationship? A ‘qualified yes' answer is given; however, getting there involves major revision to the conventional historiography of the field. To illustrate, the article presents a traditional and revised family tree of British industrial relations. Numerous insights and implications follow."

"This collection examines the evolution of the philosophy and practice of human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations (IR) over the twentieth century. By combining history, contemporary practice, and future trends, these well-known experts present both scholarly and practitioner perspectives. Drawing on in-depth interviews and surveys with HRM executives at leading corporations, the contributors explore key trends and issues facing global companies in such areas as equal opportunity, compensation practices, and expatriation programs. The book also takes an in-depth look at one particular player in the story - Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc., the first non-profit research and consulting organization dedicated to improved HRM/IR practices - which was founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1926, and has played a central role in the development of key labor legislation including the Social Security Act."

"A growing number of economists blame the length and severity of the Great Depression on factors that rigidified wage rates, raised production costs, and interfered with the market allocation of labor. The target of their critique is President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal labor program, which they portray as creating a series of large negative supply shocks through encouragement of unions, minimum wages, unemployment insurance, and other anticompetitive industrial relations practices. The author uses a combination of institutional and Keynesian theory to present the other side of the story. Drawing principally from the works of J. R. Commons and J. M. Keynes, he develops both a spending and productivity rationale for stable wages during the Great Depression and demonstrates that the New Deal's interventionist labor program was on balance necessary and beneficial. He also highlights the neglected macroeconomic dimension of industrial relations theory and policy."