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B44: The Economics of Industrial RelationsJaap Abbring , Department of Economics, University College London, Autumn 2002 |
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Be aware that slightly different topics have been covered in the earlier years (that is, before last year). In particular, we have not covered wage inequality, intergenerational mobility and minimum wages in any detail last year or this year. Also, as you can witness yourself, the format of the exam has changed slightly between earlier years and last year. This year's exam will be most similar to last year's exam. Finally, the affiliates exam is somewhat special because it was taken before the last lecture, rather than at the end of the year. The most important reading for the exam is Booth Ch. 1-7 and MR Ch. 10-13 You may also want to consult some text for efficiency wages. The other references, in particular the relevant chapters from text books like Borjas, will definitely be helpful in gaining a better understanding of the material. As you can see in Lecture notes 3, there is not too much left to lecture about next week. I do expect affiliates to have done all the reading, but I will obviously take the timing properly into account when setting the affiliate exam.
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I will develop a reading guide as we go (note that handouts will be posted in the course material section ). The most important required reading are the listed parts of Booth (1995) and Milgrom and Roberts (1992). Some background reading in a more elementary labor economics text book like Borjas (2000) may be necessary, or at least helpful.
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I abbreviate references from the syllabus as follows: B: Booth (1995) , BOR: Borjas (2000), BDS: Bosworth, Dawkins and Stromback (1996), CWOD: Cully, Woodland, O'Reilly and Dix (1999), LNJ: Layard, Nickell and Jackman (1991) , MBF: Millward, Bryson and Forth (2000), MR: Milgrom and Roberts (1992). Numbers following the abbreviations refer to chapters, sections, etcetera. Links to papers typically only work from campus (IP-controlled service). |
1. Introduction
2. Trade unions(a) Overview and history(b) Wage setting, employment and allocative efficiency
(c) Empirical analysis of wage and employment effects of unions
(d) Union membership, source of monopoly power, insider-outsider theory, strikes
3. Human-resource systems
The MR and B references are the most important. We will first discuss employment relations and elements of
human resource systems in general and only then discuss the role of
unions and empirical results. Nevertheless, you may find it convenient
to read part of the Booth references (on the role of unions in the
organisation of employment relationships) now. MR is a very
good general reference for this topic, but be warned: even though
it does not involve any mathematics, it is conceptually demanding.
MR 10 is a good start. An easier start would be to read the relevant
material from BOR, which is not complete though. The relevant parts
of BDS are more complete, but also quite a bit harder. Freeman
and Medoff (1984) is the standard reference on the "two faces" of
unions. Polachek and Siebert (1993) and Lazear (1996) are useful alternative
sources on human resource systems. I will prepare notes for this
part of the course as well. CWOD report extensively on human resource
practices in the UK, but unfortunately I have no access to the book right
now. |
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Last modified: by Jaap Abbring