Documents Erickson, Christopher L. 8 results

"This study examines the labor cost incentive for capital movement in manufacturing within the European Union, a key aspect of the "social dumping" debate in Western Europe. The authors find that the percentage differences in unit labor costs between the more developed and less developed countries in the Union not only were large in 1980 but actually grew between 1980 and 1986, and separate estimates of compensation and productivity growth rates do not indicate that significant convergence occurred over the remainder of the 1980s. Although these findings apparently confirm that a labor cost incentive for capital mobility does exist, analysis of foreign direct investment data indicates that during the period 1980-88 capital flows to the lower labor cost countries actually were not much larger than capital flows to the higher labor cost countries."

"If innovative work practices improve performance, why does the intensity of their adoption vary substantially across establishments? Following a lead suggested by some sociological studies, the authors empirically investigate the role of social networks (ties to other organizations) in the organizational learning associated with diffusion of innovative work practices. Using establishment data on formal affiliation and other network measures, they find that managerial participation in networks-specifically, in industry and cross-industry associations, civic organizations, and the internal networks of multi-unit firms-positively affected both the probability that high-performance work practices and employee training programs would be adopted and, where they were adopted, the intensity of their adoption. Furthermore, multiple affiliations raised the likelihood that an establishment would pursue an intensive approach to work reorganization and training."

"In today's largely nonunion labor market, the default model used by many economists and policy makers is that of textbook competition. The textbook model suggests a mutual balancing of worker and employer interests and implies that laissez-faire and deregulation is the appropriate policy norm, but in the 1930s and before, the default model for a nonunion labor market was employer monopsony. There are many reasons to suppose that monopsony should be the default model again. A monopsonistic labor market—one where employers have market power—has a stabilizing effect at the macrolevel. Failure to recognize monopsony thus left macro policy makers surprised by the economic outcomes of the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, monopsony has a dark side in terms of income distribution and the provision by employers of wages and conditions at the microlevel. Laissez-faire and labor-market deregulation therefore cannot be the policy norm under monopsony."

"How can employers worldwide be experiencing increasingly severe labour shortages in the face of globalization? Why don't wages rise in expanding economies? This article argues that declining union power has allowed employers to take the upper hand, setting pay and other conditions of employment as they would in a monopsonistic labour market. Rejecting the perfect competition model matching supply to demand, the authors argue that, far from being a pedagogical curiosity, monopsony's imbalance in bargaining power is widespread. Employee voice needs to be restored to counter the undesirable consequences of strong macroeconomic performance, such as wage inequality and reduced worker rights."

"Information and communication technology (ICT) challenges traditional assumptions about the capacity to manage work beyond organizational and physical boundaries. A typology connects a variety of non-traditional work organizations made possible by ICT, including offshoring, outsourcing, remote work, virtual companies and platforms. A model illustrates how new technology serves as a proximate cause for a revision of social contracts between capital, labour and government reached through bargaining and how external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the institutional environment and limitations in practice influence how technology changes the organization of work. An historical case study of the New Deal Industrial Relations System illustrates the general features of the model for tackling major transformations in the organization of work. A review of the outsourcing and offshoring literature provides examples of how features of the model will potentially influence the future of post-pandemic remote work."