The distinguished contributors to this volume discuss the global marketplace; labor movements and industrial restructuring; international trends in work organization in the auto industry; linkages between economic development strategies, industrial relations policy and other related topics.

Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff’s now classic 1984 book What Do Unions Do? stimulated an enormous theoretical and empirical literature on the economic impact of trade unions. Trade unions continue to be a significant feature of many labor markets, particularly in developing countries, and issues of labor market regulations and labor institutions remain critically important to researchers and policy makers. The relations between unions and management can range between cooperation and conflict; unions have powerful offsetting wage and non-wage effects that economists and other social scientists have long debated. Do the benefits of unionism exceed the costs to the economy and society writ large, or do the costs exceed the benefits? The Economics of Trade Unions offers the first comprehensive review, analysis and evaluation of the empirical literature on the microeconomic effects of trade unions using the tools of meta-regression analysis to identify and quantify the economic impact of trade unions, as well as to correct research design faults, the effects of selection bias and model misspecification. This volume makes use of a unique dataset of hundreds of empirical studies and their reported estimates of the microeconomic impact of trade unions. Written by three authors who have been at the forefront of this research field (including the co-author of the original volume, What Do Unions Do?), this book offers an overview of a subject that is of huge importance to scholars of labor economics, industrial and employee relations, and human resource management, as well as those with an interest in meta-analysis.

This book offers an extensive survey and synthesis of the economic literature on trade unions and collective bargaining and their impact on micro-and macro-economic outcomes. The authors demonstrate the effects of collective bargaining in different country settings and time periods. A comprehensive reference, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of labor policy as well as to policy makers and anyone with an interest in the economic consequences of unionism.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, both Australia and New Zealand extensively deregulated their economies, moving to become amongst the most liberal economies in the OECD. Shaun Goldfinch interviewed more than 180 leading policy makers in Australia and New Zealand, including former prime ministers, ministers of finance, treasurers, public servants and other policy elites, and examined primary government sources to demonstrate the reasons and processes involved in this remarkable period of economic reform. This major comparative study sheds new light on ecnomic policy-making and change, including the role of economic ideas and the importance of institutions and policy communities. It contrasts the 'crash through' approach that characterised reform in New Zealand with the 'bargained consensus' that underpinned changes in Australia. Finally it asks the critical question, 'Has the New Zealand approach to policy change delivered better policy outcomes?'