Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labor Market Institutions ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
Swedish Model ◽  
Swedish Experience ◽  
Western Democracies

This chapter introduces the section on Swedish economic policy and political economy. Sweden’s economic policies, labor market institutions, and welfare programs have long fascinated scholars at home and abroad. The introduction discusses the reasons for this fascination, puts the section’s substantive chapters in context, and explains why the topics of these chapters should be particularly interesting to foreign students and scholars who wish to learn more about the Swedish experience. Specifically, the chapters in this section address the iconic “Swedish model” as an ideological construct, how far Swedish economic policies have been exceptional among Western democracies, how Sweden fared in the aftermath of the financial crisis of the 1990s, and what has characterized Sweden’s model of industrial relations over the years.

The Swedish Model of Industrial Relations

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Peak Level ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Market Model ◽  
Labor Market Institutions ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Swedish Model ◽  
Wage Coordination

This chapter examines Sweden’s labor market organizations and labor market institutions, showing what is distinctive about Sweden’s current labor market model, and how it differs from the highly centralized model of the past. The first section deals with the classical “Swedish model,” the challenges to this model in the 1980s and 1990s, and the manner in which it has been reformed. A section on the employer organizations and a section on the unions are followed by a section that analyzes contemporary industrial relations. The ultimate break with centralization came in 1990 when the employers’ peak-level organization openly abdicated as a corporatist negotiating partner. However, the decentralization and movement toward an uncoordinated labor market in the 1990s became an interregnum between two different means of wage coordination. Basically, there has been a transition from central wage bargaining to coordination through pattern bargaining.

Are Good Industrial Relations Good for the Economy?

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Addison ◽  
Paulino Teixeira
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labor Market Institutions ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
Microeconomic Analysis ◽  
Separate Line ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Good For

Abstract Recent US microeconomic analysis indicates that good industrial relations might improve firm performance. Of late, it has also been claimed that the benefits of industrial relations quality - proxied inversely by a strikes variable - could also extend to the macroeconomy. Using cross-country data, we find that, independent of other labor market institutions, a lower strike volume is associated with lower unemployment. Although there is a separate line of causation running from unemployment to strikes, our analysis suggests that this is not dominant. That said, support for the notion that macro performance owes something to good industrial relations is, however, weakened once we formally control for strike endogeneity.

Do Institutions Make a Difference? Financing Systems of Labor Market Policy

1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günther Schmid ◽  
Bernd Reissert
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Labor Market Institutions ◽  
Labor Market Policy ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
Market Policy

ABSTRACTIn recent years the hopes of finding a solution for the puzzle of mass unemployment shifted to labor market institutions such as the system of regulation and industrial relations. The following study takes up a much neglected aspect of labor market institutions, the issue of financing labor market policy. After developing the analytical framework, the systems of financing labor market policy in six countries are briefly described. Next are analyzed the effects of different financing systems on expenditures for active labor market policy – as an essential element in fighting unemployment. Financial systems, however, influence not only the level but also the structure of labor market policy which in turn has implications for its allocational and distributional effects. Finally, some lessons are drawn from the international comparison, the main thesis is illustrated by the German case. Institutional incongruity, i.e. a mismatch between organizational structures and functions, may have two effects, leading political decision makers to behave in a generally unexpected way, and channelling the effects of political programmes in unintended directions.

scholarly journals The Transition to the Knowledge Economy, Labor Market Institutions, and Income Inequality in Advanced Democracies

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hope ◽  
Angelo Martelli
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Labor Market Institutions ◽  
Market Institutions ◽  
Advanced Democracies

AbstractThe transition from Fordism to the knowledge economy in the world’s advanced democracies was underpinned by the revolution in information and communications technology (ict). The introduction and rapid diffusion of ict pushed up wages for college-educated workers with complementary skills and allowed top managers and CEOs to reap greater rewards for their own talents. Despite these common pressures, income inequality did not rise to the same extent everywhere; income in the Anglo-Saxon countries remains particularly unequally distributed. To shed new light on this puzzle, the authors carry out a panel data analysis of eighteen oecd countries between 1970 and 2007. Their analysis stands apart from the existing empirical literature by taking a comparative perspective. The article examines the extent to which the relationship between the knowledge economy and income inequality is influenced by national labor market institutions. The authors find that the expansion of knowledge employment is positively associated with both the 90/10 wage ratio and the income share of the top 1 percent, but that these effects are mitigated by the presence of strong labor market institutions, such as coordinated wage bargaining, strict employment protection legislation, high union density, and high collective bargaining coverage. The authors provide robust evidence against the argument that industrial relations systems are no longer important safeguards of wage solidarity in the knowledge economy.

The age of symbolic economic policies?

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-265
Author(s):  
Peter Galbács
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Mainstream Economics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theoretical Considerations ◽  
Macroeconomic Environment

This paper offers a few remarks on the so-called heterodoxy commentaries of recent times (e.g. Bod 2013, Csaba 2011). In accordance with the growing popularity of unusual economic policy actions, a set of “tools” is emerging that aims to exert its effects breaking with instrumental actions. Outlining a special framework of the history of mainstream economics, it will be argued that economic policy only gradually has become capable of applying this system. In our view, both the emergence of symbolic economic policies mentioned above and the rise of heterodoxy are on the same level, since certain governments can only operate through giving signals. Although it is not the time to formulate ultimate and eternal generalised statements, it may perhaps be stated that symbolic economic policies can make some room for manoeuvring available as a last resort. In other words, the possibility of a certain kind of economic policy “tools” can be derived from theoretical considerations, and this set has become highlighted recently by some constraining changes in the macroeconomic environment. Our theoretical framework will be filled sporadically with some episodes from the last few years of the economic policy of Hungary.

Assessment of Poland's Economic Policy During te Crisis

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-210
Author(s):  
Stefan Krajewski
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Fiscal Sustainability ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Reducing Costs ◽  
Polish Economy ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
The Eu

The rapid weakening of economic activity, covering most states in the world, gives rise to a lively discussion on the choice of methods to tackle the crisis, the legitimacy and effectiveness of various economic policies, the role of the state and the scope of its intervention in the economy. The paper evaluates the Polish economic policy in recent years. This refers to the situation prevailing in the EU and the USA. I conclude that the Polish economy during the crisis remained relatively stable, without having to provide the emergency aid from the outside. The development of such a situation has been affected by different reasons, including: - The benefits of the so-called "backwardness rent", which resulted, among others, in the inflow of EU funds (Poland was in 2007-2013 and in will be in 2014-2020 the biggest beneficiary of the EU budget); - The effects of decisions on changes in the tax and social security, taken for political reasons (before the crisis); - The controversial withdrawal from the funded pension system, reducing the budget deficit and public debt; - The prudent monetary policy and anti-inflation policy pursued over many years. Actions taken in Poland are primarily focused on reducing costs, which differs quite significantly from the economic policy dominant in the U.S. and the "old" EU countries which generally pursue expansionary fiscal policy and a policy of cheap money. Polish solution facilitates the achievement of short-term fiscal sustainability, but does not create favorable conditions for the development in the long-term (insufficient investment, petrification of economic structure, lack of innovation). 

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document