"The essential role of collective bargaining and organised labour in the construction and day-to-day functioning of labour markets and the welfare state has a strong influence on the outcomes of contemporary social policy. In this collection of essays, I analyse the social, political and economic causes and effects of collective bargaining institutions in the advanced democracies. My empirical focus is on the quantitative comparative analysis of labour market outcomes in the European Union and the United States. Based on an interdisciplinary theoretical foundation addressing the literatures of social policy, industrial relations, economic sociology, labour economics, political science and political economy, my findings point towards strong complementarities between trade unions, collective bargaining and the welfare state. The starting premises for this dissertation are set by the considerable and nearly universal declines in the power and membership of trade unions, found to be the result of social, political and economic changes associated with post-industrial labour markets. Even in this context, I find that the principles of tripartite collective bargaining continue to have a strong influence on labour markets and social policy: the strength of trade unions vis-à-vis employers' organisations and the government has a direct effect on employment and the pre-distribution of market incomes, which in turn influences how much the welfare state needs to re-distribute incomes and manage unemployment. Not only that, but collective bargaining and organised labour also have a direct impact on the creation of social policies and functioning of the welfare state, for example through the management of transitions to and from employment under conditions of technological change, and their role in the design and administration of work-related social protection such as unemployment benefits. My findings indicate that robust processes of collective bargaining, where collective agreements are negotiated in good faith between representative trade unions and employers' organisations and cover a large share of the working population, are indispensable allies in the reduction of socio-economic inequalities."

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