TY - CHAP T1 - Demographic Change And Its Consequences For The Labor Market T2 - Managing the Middle-Income Transition: Challenges Facing the People’s Republic of China Y1 - 2015 A1 - Cai, Fang ED - Juhzon Zhuang ED - Paul Vandenberg ED - Yiping Huang KW - asian politics KW - China KW - development economics KW - economics KW - People’s Republic of China KW - politics KW - social policy AB -

The Lewisian classical theory of economic development holds that developing countries characterized by unlimited supply of labor are bound for a dual economy, whereby modern sectors can source labor from the agriculture sector at constant wages and accumulate physical capital. The pressure on employment caused by labor supply exceeding demand therefore characterizes the entire process of this form of development. A dual economy reaches the so-called Lewis turning point when demand for labor in modern sectors exceeds supply from surplus labor in agriculture at current wage rates. While the theory remains current among many development economists, there has been less study and, indeed, agreement, on the role demography plays in shaping dual-economy development, and on the changes and challenges a country faces as it approaches such a turning point. This chapter aims to fill that knowledge gap by looking at the demographic transition in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the country’s experiences in approaching its Lewis turning point. As in many other newly industrialized economies in East Asia, sweeping demographic changes accompanied rapid economic growth in the PRC during its reform period. This has enabled the country to accomplish the transition from a demographic pattern characterized by high birth, mortality, and population growth rates to one of low rates in each of these areas.

JA - Managing the Middle-Income Transition: Challenges Facing the People’s Republic of China PB - Edward Elgar CY - Cheltenham, U.K. L2 - eng ER - TY - JOUR T1 - EU Employment Law and the European Social Model: The Past, the Present and the Future JF - University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 43/2014 Y1 - 2014 A1 - Barnard, Catherine KW - employment KW - ESM KW - EU Social Model KW - European Union KW - labor KW - labor law KW - social policy AB -

If the critics are right, the EU social model is dead and that’s the end of it. Those on the right may well be dancing on its grave; those more sympathetic might mourn its passing. My view is more sanguine. I shall argue that the European social model is certainly facing unprecedented challenges. However, I will suggest that these challenges, caused in part by the EU’s response to the crisis but more generally resulting from a growing hostility towards the European Union project as a whole, are not terminal and that there is – and should be - a continued role for the European social model and its employment dimension in particular. The article therefore considers what is meant by the European social model (ESM) and why the ESM is important. It then examines why the ESM, and its employment dimension in particular, is facing such difficulties before recognising that, in fact, the EU’s history demonstrates that the ESM has, in fact, a long-standing ability to regenerate and resurrect itself in different guises. Given this regenerative capacity, the article will conclude by considering the form EU social policy might take going forward.

L2 - eng UR - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2471740 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Crisis and Social Policy: The Role of Collective Agreements JF - International Labour Review Y1 - 2012 A1 - Glassner, Vera A1 - Maarten Keune KW - collective agreement KW - collective bargaining KW - EU countries KW - Europe KW - private sector KW - public sector KW - social policy AB -

Based on an analysis of collective agreements concluded across the EU in 2008–11, the authors examine their contributions to social policy through provisions for short-time work, training, wage moderation, and flexibilization of wage setting and working time. They highlight the distinction between the public and private sectors in this respect, contrasting the former's very limited scope for integrative bargaining in the face of mounting budget deficits and austerity with the latter's (initially) more balanced trade-offs between cost competitiveness and maintenance of employment and wages, especially in countries with coordinated bargaining systems. Elsewhere, the authors argue, the outcomes look set to deteriorate further.

VL - 151 L2 - eng CP - 4 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage Y1 - 2001 A1 - Hall, P. A. A1 - Soskice, D. KW - comparative political economy KW - economic policy KW - economics KW - globalization KW - social policy AB -

Applying the new economics of organization and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross-national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterize the 'varieties of capitalism' found among the developed economies. Building on a distinction between 'liberal market economies' and 'coordinated market economies', it explores the impact of these variations on economic performance and many spheres of policy-making, including macroeconomic policy, social policy, vocational training, legal decision-making, and international economic negotiations. The volume examines the institutional complementarities across spheres of the political economy, including labour markets, markets for corporate finance, the system of skill formation, and inter-firm collaboration on research and development that reinforce national equilibria and give rise to comparative institutional advantages, notably in the sphere of innovation where LMEs are better placed to sponsor radical innovation and CMEs to sponsor incremental innovation. By linking managerial strategy to national institutions, the volume builds a firm-centered comparative political economy that can be used to assess the response of firms and governments to the pressures associated with globalization. Its new perspectives on the welfare state emphasize the role of business interests and of economic systems built on general or specific skills in the development of social policy. It explores the relationship between national legal systems, as well as systems of standards setting, and the political economy. The analysis has many implications for economic policy-making, at national and international levels, in the global age. (publisher's statement)

PB - Oxford University Press CY - New York L2 - eng ER -