Статьи
Всего статей в данном разделе : 57
Опубликовано на портале: 03-12-2007
Friedhelm Pfeiffer, Karsten Reuß
Center for European Economic Research Discussion Paper.
2007.
No. 07-015.
In this study, we try to connect the economic literature on human capital formation
with findings from neurobiology and psychology on early childhood development and
self-regulation. Our basic framework for assessing the distribution of agespecific
returns to investment in skills is an elaboration of the model of skill formation
from Cunha, Heckman et al. (2006) over the life cycle. Our simulation based evidence
illustrates the cumulative and synergetic nature of skill formation, the skill multiplier
and the shaping role early childhood has for human capital formation, growth and
inequality.


An Emerging Market for Corporate Control? The Mannesmann Takeover and German Corporate Governance [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 24-11-2008
Martin Höpner, Gregory Jackson
MPIfG, Discussion Paper.
2001.
No. 01/4 .
Corporate governance in Germany is often described as a bank-oriented, block-holder or stakeholder model where markets for corporate control have not played a significant role. This case study of the hostile takeover of Mannesmann AG by Vodafone in 2000 demonstrates how systemic changes during the 1990s have eroded past institutional barriers to takeovers. These changes include the strategic reorientation of German banks from the "house bank" to investment banking, the growing consensus and productivity orientation of employee co-determination and corporate law reform. A significant segment of German corporations are now subjected to a market for corporate control. The implications for the German model are examined in light of both claims by agency theory for the efficiency of takeover markets, as well as the institutional complementarities within Germany's specific "variety" of capitalism. While the efficiency effects are questionable, the growing pressures for German corporations to achieve the higher stock market valuations of their Anglo-American competitors threaten the distributional compromises underlying the German model.


Опубликовано на портале: 25-03-2008
Robert Boyer, Toshio Yamada
CEPREMAP Working Papers.
2000.
No. 2000-05.
This research summarizes the main findings of "Regulation" theory about the evolution
of the Japanese economy since WWII and proposes an institutional interpretation of
the crisis of the 90s. The company-ist compromise is the core of the whole institutional
architecture via an original wage labour nexus, largely different from the American
Fordist one. There is a clear hierarchy between the large corportation and sub-contractors.
One observers a complementarity between the mode of governance of the firm and the
main bank and finallybetween the industrial wselfare and the management of employment.
A highly original "regulation" mode has allowed the implementation of a mass production
and consumption economy, but this regime enters into crisis by its very success and
this crisis is exacerbated by the impact of the financial bubble of the 90s. The
paper surveys the transformation of the main institutional firms since the 90s and
builds three scenarios based respectively upon: a large inertia of Japanese economic
and political institutions; a quick adoption of typical market-led institutions under
the pressure of financial market; or a new hybridization process that would concern
banking and finance and not only the manufacturing industries, as was the case after
WWII.


Опубликовано на портале: 26-05-2003
Ken Prandy
Working Papers (Cambridge Studies in Social Research).
2002.
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Опубликовано на портале: 03-12-2003
Simon Commander, Andrei Tolstopiatenko, Ruslan Yemtsov
William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series.
1997.
No. 42.
Among the many popular images of the Russian transition, none cast a more dramatic
shadow than the apparently rapid transformation of an entire system from one characterised
by low inequality and largely absent poverty to one marked by extremes of deprivation
and prosperity. Once hailed as a salutary contrast to the extremes of well-being
so characteristic of many economies at comparable levels of income, Russia now exhibits
the tell-tale inequities that mark, for example, many Latin American economies. How
accurate is this representation, both in its depiction of the situation pre-transition,
let alone the consequences of recent changes? This paper is an attempt to answer
these questions in as precise a manner as possible.
The paper is organised as follows. Section 1 gives a brief description of the datasets
— primarily the six rounds of a large household survey, the Russian Longitudinal
Monitoring Survey (RLMS) - that we use in this paper. Section 2 sets out the initial
conditions that obtained in the Former Soviet Union and Russia and the picture that
emerges from use of official statistics. These are shown to be seriously misleading
in a number of key respects. Section 3 deals with the channels of redistribution
that are likely to be present in the transition and surveys the evidence available
from both aggregate data and firm-level information. In Section 4 the key channels
are formalised in a two sector model of transition in which the reallocation of labour
and capital across state and private sectors is seen as the determining feature of
transition. The model is primarily concerned with labour allocation and hence can
provide the paths of inequality and poverty over the transition primarily associated
with labour income. Some simulations are presented which provide a set of simple
benchmarks for understanding the size of likely effects from both within-sector
inequality as also through restructuring and closure probabilities for state firms
and the relative productivity of both state and private sectors. Section 5 turns
to the empirical findings that emerge from a detailed look at the household surveys,
including the factors driving the changes in inequality. Section 6 looks at how stable
the transitions over the income distribution have been and, in particular, takes
a closer look at groups of stable winners and losers. Section 7 turns to the measurement
of poverty and the results that emerge from the household survey regarding both expenditure
and income measured poverty. We also look at the characteristics of the poor. Section
8 concludes.

Comparing Social Stratification Schemas: CAMSIS, CSP-CH, Goldthorpe, ISCO-88, Treiman,
and Wright [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 25-01-2003
Manfred Max Bergman, Dominique Joye
The purpose of this article is to inform researchers in the social
and political sciences about the main social stratification scales
in use today. Six stratification schemas are described in this
text: the Cambridge Social Interaction and Stratification Scale
(CAMSIS), Swiss Socio-Professional Categories (CSP-CH),
John H. Goldthorpes class schema, the International Standard
Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88), Donald J. Treimans
prestige scale, and Erik Olin Wrights class structure. Their
theoretical backgrounds and assumptions are discussed, as
are their structural and methodological aspects. General
problems of contemporary stratification research are covered,
and suggestions for future research directions within this field
are proposed.


Опубликовано на портале: 25-11-2008
Gregory Jackson
RIETI Discussion Paper.
2004.
No. 04-E-022 .
This article examines the role of ambiguity in processes of institutional change. One challenge for understanding institutional change is to overcome the rather "oversocialized" view of action within Institutional theory. Drawing upon recent work in sociology, the paper introduces a non-teleological model of action that stresses the ambiguity of institutionalized beliefs. Ambiguity is then applied to Masahiko Aoki's concept of institutions as "summary representation" of a strategic game. Rather than institutional break down, ambiguity is associated with incremental modes of institutional change through creative reinterpretation and redeployment of old institutions for new purposes. Empirically, the paper applies these considerations to understanding the historical evolution of employee codetermination in Germany. The continuity in formal legal rules of codetermination contrasts with remarkable diversity as an organizational practice-over time, across industrial sectors and between individual firms. Codetermination illustrates how ambiguity originated in political compromise, but also how ambiguous agreement allows scope for institutional innovation. Ambiguity is, thus, central for understanding how codetermination was partially reproduced and partially changed over time.


Опубликовано на портале: 20-11-2008
Martin Höpner
MPIfG, Discussion Paper.
2007.
No. 7/12.
This paper suggests a two-dimensional concept of nonliberal capitalism: coordinated
capitalism (as described in the varieties of capitalism framework) and organized capitalism.
While the coordination function of institutions canalizes individual maximization
strategies of firms in order to adjust for collective action problems, the organization
function transcends maximization strategies and adjusts them to collective
interests beyond maximization. Political economies are highly organized when firms
are not only the private business of owners and insiders but, in addition, quasi-public
infrastructures and, therefore, highly constrained in their economic decisions by institutionally
sanctioned collective interests (such as sectoral interests, class interests, or
political interests). I construct an index on organized capitalism by combining data on
ownership structures, board level codetermination, the density of employers’ associations
and trade union density in order to allow for comparison between varying extents
of coordination and organization in 20 OECD countries. The German example is used
to demonstrate the analytical usefulness of the coordination–organization distinction
in qualitative terms. The distinction allows for differentiation between two forms of
liberalization: declining coordination and disorganization.


Corporate Governance and Employees in Germany: Changing Linkages, Complementarities, and Tensions [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 20-11-2008
Martin Höpner, Gregory Jackson, Antje Kurdelbusch
RIETI Discussion Paper.
2004.
No. 04-E-008.
This article examines institutional linkages between corporate governance and labour management in
Germany. German corporate governance was characterised by the importance of banks, ownership concentration,
long-term investment, and stable corporate networks. This system displayed important complementarities with
stable long-term employment, investment in worker training, flexible quality production, low variability and
dispersion in pay, and cooperative industrial relations during the post-war period. Since the mid-1990s, corporate
governance has changed dramatically – a decline in the role of banks, the unwinding of corporate networks, the rise
of foreign and institutional investors, en emerging market for corporate control, and changing careers and
compensation of top managers. The paper investigates the resulting introduction of shareholder-value management
practices and their impact on employees in large German companies. The findings show that these changes are
related to the shrinking of stable core employment and the growth of variable pay. However, such tensions with
shareholder value management have not undermined employee codetermination and collective bargaining
institutions. Both play an important mediating role between capital market pressures and employment outcomes.
The implications for the German “model” of corporate governance are discussed.


Опубликовано на портале: 25-11-2008
Igor Filatotchev, David E. Guest, Jenifer Piesse, Gregory Jackson, Howard Gospel
DTI Economics Working Paper.
2005.
No. 13.
This collection of short papers examines the role of corporate governance with regard to human resource management and corporate strategy over the course of the firm life cycle, as well as in diverse institutional environments such as the UK, Germany and Japan.


Опубликовано на портале: 20-11-2008
Martin Höpner
MPIfG, Discussion Paper.
2001.
No. 01/5.
Within the context of debates over national “varieties” of capitalism,
this paper discusses
the shareholder value orientation of the 40 largest listed German companies.
Three dimensions of shareholder value are distinguished: the communicative dimension,
the operative dimension and the dimension of managerial compensation. A
shareholder value index compiling data on accounting, investor relations, variable
top-management compensation and the implementation of profitability goals makes
it possible to compare the shareholder orientations of the companies. The shareholder
value phenomenon is explained first by the exposure to markets – the international
product market, capital market pressures and the market for corporate control –
and,
secondly, by internal developments – changing management careers, increasing
management compensation and reduced monitoring by banks and corporate networks
– which cause external impulses to increase shareholder value to fall on fertile
ground. Conflicts over shareholder orientation result in changing coalitions between
shareholders, management, and employees. Shareholder value does not make companies
opt out of central collective agreements or endanger the existence of employees’
codetermination, but it does lead to more market-driven industrial relations.


Опубликовано на портале: 17-11-2008
Sigurt Vitols
WZB Discussion Paper.
1995.
No. 95-310 .
This paper critically examines the debate on corporate governance and the claim (often made in Anglo-American companies) that the close links between German banks and industry are primarily responsible for the longer-term investment strategies and greater quality competitiveness of German manufacturing. Instead, it is argued here that manufacturing investment and bank behavior must be examined within a broader system of economic governance. In particular, the regulation of labor markets is a key factor influencing company choices between price and quality-competitive strategies.
The corporatist regulation of German labor markets has encouraged quality-competitive strategies by keeping labor costs out of competition to a greater extent than in the US, where a collapse in pattern bargaining in core manufacturing industries and the strategic use of bankruptcy was motivated by companies' attempts to gain a comparative price advantage on the basis of lower labor costs. This argument is supported through a case study of the restructuring of the steel industry in Germany and the US in the 1980s.


Опубликовано на портале: 03-12-2008
Ulrike Mühlberger, René Böheim
IZA Discussion Papers.
2006.
No. 1963 .
We analyse the characteristics of workers who provide work on the basis of a civil
or commercial contract, but who are dependent on or integrated into the firm for
which they work. We argue that these dependent self-employed lose their rights under
labour law, receive less favourable benefits from social security protection and
are often beyond trade union representation and collective bargaining. Using data
from the British Labour Force Survey we test two hypotheses: (1) Dependent self-employed
workers are significantly different from both employees and (independent) self-employed
individuals, thus forming a distinct group. (2) Dependent self-employed workers have
lower labour market skills, less labour market attachment and, thus, less autonomy
than self-employed workers. The data support our hypothesis that dependent self-employed
workers are a distinct labour market group which differs from both employees and
independent self-employed individuals. Men, older workers, those with low education
and a low job tenure have greater odds of working in dependent self-employment than
their counterparts. Our results suggest that dependent forms of self-employment are
used by firms to increase labour flexibility.


Опубликовано на портале: 31-01-2003
Lawrence E. Raffalovich
This paper uses annual time-series data on a sample of thirty-nine countries to investigate
the impact of inequality on growth over the 1950-1998 period. Our inequality measure
is the
property-income share of GDP, selected because it is both the means and the motive
for
investment, the proximate cause of growth in most theories. Cross-national time-series
regression
analysis of the pooled data finds only limited evidence that inequality increases
subsequent
growth, and only in a few countries. There is no evidence that this effect can be
generalized
beyond these few nations. The argument that inequality promotes economic growth remains
largely unsupported.



Опубликовано на портале: 25-03-2008
Robert Boyer
PSE Working Papers.
2006.
No. 2006-21.
This paper challenges the conventional wisdom that the dynamism of employment is
always
contradictory to the enforcement of some forms of security for workers. Contemporary
theorizing now recognizes the specificity of the wage-labour nexus. Consequently,
minimum
security is required for good economic performance by firms and national economies.
A
comparative analysis of OECD countries shows that the extended security promoted
by welfare
systems has not been detrimental to innovation, growth and job creation. Developing
countries
cannot immediately catch up with the emerging standards of flexicurity but the methodology
of
employment diagnosis might help them in designing security/flexibility configurations
tailored
according to their domestic economic specialization, social values and political
choices.

