Why Deregulate Labour Markets?
Contributors: Gosta Esping-Andersen (Editor); Marino Regini (Editor)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Oxford, England
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 376
ISBN-13: 9780198296812
Copyright date: 2000
Subjects: Labour economics; Political economy; Work & labour; Public Policy - General; Labor laws and legislation; Labor And The State; Public Policy; Political Science; Business / Economics / Finance; Politics/International Relations; Labor market; Labor; Business & Economics / Labor; Political Science / Public Policy; Political Science-Public Policy - General; Case studies; Unemployment; Europe
First sentence: Labour markets have traditionally been among the most heavily regulated areas of the Western economies, whether by law and the administrative activity of the state: by collective bargaining: by corporatist bodies which involve the social partners in labour policy formation and implementation: or by networks of strong or weak ties which constrain the behaviour of labour market actors.
Description: Europe's mass unemployment and the call for extensive labour market de-regulation have, perhaps more than any other contemporary issue, impassioned political debate and academic research. With contributions from economists, political scientists and sociologists, Why Deregulate Labour Markets? takes a hard look at the empirical connections between unemployment and regulation in Europe today, utilizing both in-depth nation analyses and broader-based international comparisons. The book demonstrates that Europe's mass unemployment cannot be directly ascribed to excessive worker protection. Labour market rigidities can, however, be harmful for particular groups. The weight of the evidence suggests that a radical strategy of de-regulation would probably cause more harm than benefits for European economic performance.

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Table of contents: title: Introduction, Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Mario Regini; title: PART I. LABOUR MARKET REFORM IN EUROPE; title: The dilemmas of labour market regulation, Mario Regini; title: The dynamics of labour market reform in European countries, Manuela Samek; title: Who is harmed by Labour Market Regulations? Quantitative Evidence, Gøsta Esping-Andersen; title: Regulation and context. Reconsidering the correlates of unemployment, Gøsta Esping-Andersen; title: PART II. NATIONAL VARIATIONS; title: River Crossing or Cold Bath? Deregulation and Employment in Britain, Simon Deakin and Hannah Reed; title: Going different ways: labour market policy in Denmark and Sweden, Anders Björklund; title: The Dutch miracle?, Cees Gorter; title: Germany: A regulated flexibility, Susanne Fuchs and Ronald Schettkat; title: France: The deregulation that never existed, Miguel A. Malo, Luis Toharia and Jerome Gautié; title: Italy: the long times of consensual re-regulation, Manuel Samek Lodovici; title: The Spanish experiment: pros and cons of the flexibility at the margin, Luis Toharia and Miguel A. Malo; title: Conclusions, Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Mario Regini