This innovative text grounds the economic analysis of labor markets and employment relationships in a unified theoretical treatment of labor exchange conditions. In addition to providing thorough coverage of standard topics including labor supply and demand, human capital theory, and compensating wage differentials, the text draws on game theory and the economics of information to study the implications of key departures from perfectly competitive labor market conditions. Analytical results are consistently applied to contemporary policy issues and empirical debates. Provides a coherent theoretical framework for the analysis of labor market phenomena Features graphical in-chapter analysis supplemented by technical material in appendices Incorporates numerous end-of-chapter questions that engage the analysis and anticipate subsequent results Includes innovative chapters on employee compensation methods, market segmentation, income inequality and labor market dynamics Balances theoretical, empirical and policy analysis

A distinguished roster of contributors considers the state of the art of the field at the turn of the 21st century and charts an ambitious agenda for the future. Following what the editors describe as an `evolutionist' approach to the study of labor markets, the chapters address issues of continuity and discontinuity in a wide range of topics including: markets and institutional structures; employment relations and work structures; patterns of stratification in the United States; and public policies, opportunity structures, and economic outcomes.

ÔWachter and Estlund have assembled a feast on the economic analysis of issues in labor and employment law for scholars and policy-makers. The volume begins with foundational discussions of the economic analysis of the individual employment relationship and collective bargaining. It then progresses to discussions of the theoretical and empirical work on a wide range of important labor and employment law topics including: union organizing and employee choice, the impact of unions on firm and economic performance, the impact of unions on the enforcement of legal rights, just cause for dismissal, covenants not to compete and employment discrimination. Anyone who wants to study what economists have to say on these topics would do well to begin with this collection.Õ Ð Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Indiana University Bloomington School of Law, US This Research Handbook assembles the original work of leading legal and economic scholars, working in a variety of traditions and methodologies, on the economic analysis of labor and employment law. In addition to surveying the current state of the art on the economics of labor markets and employment relations, the volumeÕs 16 chapters assess aspects of traditional labor law and union organizing, the law governing the employment contract and termination of employment, employment discrimination and other employer mandates, restrictions on employee mobility, and the forum and remedies for labor and employment claims. Comprising a variety of approaches, the Research Handbook on the Economics of Labor and Employment Law will appeal to legal scholars in labor and employment law, industrial relations scholars and labor economists.

Developing a strong theoretical base for research and practice in industrial relations and human resource management has to date remained a largely unfulfilled challenge. This text presents contributions from 15 scholars, developing their perspectives on work and the employment relationship.

Ever since the emergence of industrial relations as a field in the late 1920s, three different approaches to labor problems have been focal points for research and debate, according to Bruce E. Kaufman. What he refers to as "employers" solutions involve personnel management; workers rely on unionism and collective bargaining; and the third component, the community, depends on government regulation in the form of protective labor legislation and social insurance programs. Kaufman contends that government regulation has contributed significantly to the remarkable progress made during the twentieth century in achieving a more productive and humane workplace. As labor problems have changed, debate about the efficacy of government regulation has continued. In this volume, some of the most distinguished scholars in industrial relations frame the current issues, develop theoretical insights, and provide an objective review of the empirical evidence.

Covers various aspects of the employer-employee relationship. This book answers labor market questions that include: Why has part-time work increased so dramatically in the 15 European Union countries? What changes in retirement behavior will be expected as countries change pension laws? And, why do firms often use fixed-term employment contracts?

Employment systems consist of complex arrays of formal and informal rules that structure the relationships between employees and employers. There are many different types of employment systems. Some are specified in considerable detail in collectively bargained quasilegal employment contracts, while others are left to discretion. This book describes the latter type of employment system-one in which there is an active market for knowl edge and skills. This is the salaried employment system of ForestCo-a large multiplant manufacturing company in the forest products industry. Here, supervisors and managers actively adjust the jobs and persons under their authority to meet the market, social, and institutional forces that influence the activities and performance of their departments. The study of employment systems is a relatively recent phenomenon, and few prior studies or theories were found to guide this investigation. Neither the scope nor the components of employment system studies are yet established. The field is confused and contested. Nevertheless, there is related literature which can be used to focus attention on different features of employment systems. One emerging body of work that holds the most promise for the study of employment systems is internal labor market (lLM) theory.