scholarly journals Constructing Cost of Living Indexes

2020 ◽  
pp. 57-87
Author(s):  
Cecilia T. Lanata Briones
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Policy Intervention ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Visible Object ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Cost Of Living Index

This article examines the first two estimates of the Argentine cost of living index, focusing on their producers, Alejandro Bunge and José Figuerola. The Bunge index, released in 1918, did not hold as a stable social and political artifact because it lacked legitimacy in the eyes of many sectors of society. This was a consequence of Bunge’s personal connections, and of the close relationship between the index and Bunge and between the index and his macroeconomic vision, which differed from that of the economic and political elite. The trajectory of the second estimate, released in 1935 by the National Labor Department, highlights the importance of the working class as a social actor in fostering the adoption of their cost of living index. The legitimacy of the National Labor Department’s index was enhanced by the connections between Figuerola and the International Labour Organization. The contrast between the two histories suggests that for a cost of living index to hold as a stable social and political artifact during the first half of the twentieth century, a connection between the index and industrial relations had to exist. In particular, the index should contribute toward the formation of the working class as a visible object for policy intervention.

Experimentalism as a Tool of Economic Innovation in Germany

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wade Jacoby ◽  
Martin Behrens
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Information Gathering ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Comparative Political Economy ◽  
System A ◽  
German Model ◽  
Economic Innovation

Our purpose in this article is to analyze changes in the German wagebargaining system, a system that has attracted enormous attentionfrom scholars of comparative political economy and comparativeindustrial relations. We argue that the wage bargaining portion ofthe German model is neither frozen in place, headed for deregulation,nor merely “muddling through.” Rather, we see the institutionalcapacities of the key actors—especially the unions and employerassociations—making possible a process we term “experimentalism.”In briefest form, experimentalism allows organizations that combinedecentralized information-gathering abilities with centralized decision-making capacity to probe for new possibilities, which, oncefound, can be quickly diffused throughout the organization. We willshow that the capacity for such experimentalism varies across actorsand sectors. And, to make things even tougher, neither major Germansocial actor can sustain innovation in the longer term withoutbringing along the other “social partner.”

ACCRA cost of living index

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 375-378
Author(s):  
Mary Catherine Moeller
Keyword(s):  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Cost Of Living Index

The Stockpile Thesis and Industrial Relations at Kambalda

1986 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-366
Author(s):  
Helen Lang
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Mining Town ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Nickel Mining ◽  
Industrial Disputes ◽  
Strategic Variable ◽  
Consensual Approach

Some recent work on industrial relations in the Australian minirtg industry has focused on a close relationship between the incidence of strikes and the stockpiling of the mineral mined. It is argued that when demand for a mineral falls and the stockpile grows, management can afford the disruption to production caused by strikes. Hence management will take action to provoke strikes by introducing changes in work practices it knows will be opposed by unionists. Not only are the unions more likely to be defeated, but the company concerned is also able to reduce the size of its stockpile of ore. A case-study of the nickel-mining centre of Kambalda in Western Australia suggests that the size of the stockpile isfar less relevant when management and unions have a consensual approach to industrial relations. The stockpile is a strategic variable rather than a cause of industrial disputes. Whether the stockpile is manipulated as part of management's strategy will depend on innumerable, interdependent factors, including the organization of social life in a mining town and whether effective co operative relations develop between managers and unions.

A new index to measure cost of living for expatriates in cities

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-317
Author(s):  
Khee Giap Tan ◽  
Nguyen Trieu Duong Luu ◽  
Le Phuong Anh Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Commercial Research ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Living Index ◽  
The City

Purpose Cost of living is an important consideration for the decision-making of expatriates and investment decisions of businesses. As competition between cities for talent and capital becomes global instead of national, the need for timely and internationally comparable information on global cities’ cost of living increases. While commercial research houses frequently publish cost of living surveys, these reports can be lacking in terms of scientific rigour. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the literature by formulating a comprehensive and rigorous methodology to compare the cost of living for expatriates in 103 world’s major cities. Design/methodology/approach A cost of living index for expatriates composed of the ten consumption categories is constructed. The results from the study covers a study period from 2005 to 2014 in 103 cities. More than 280 individual prices of 165 goods and services have been compiled for each city in the calculation of the cost of living index for expatriates. New York has been chosen as the base city for the study, with other cities being benchmarked against it. A larger cost of living index for expatriates implies that the city is more expensive for expatriates to live in and vice versa. Findings While the authors generate the cost of living rankings for expatriates for 103 cities worldwide, in this paper, the authors focus on five key cities, namely, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Zurich, as they are global financial centres. In 2013, the latest year for which data are available, Zurich was the most expensive for expatriates among the five cities, followed by Singapore, Tokyo, London and Hong Kong. These results pertain to the cost of living for expatriates, and cities compare very differently in terms of cost of living for ordinary residents, as ordinary residents follow different consumption patterns from expatriates. Originality/value Cost of living in the destination city is a major consideration for professionals who look to relocate, and organisations factor such calculations in their decisions to post employees overseas and design commensurate compensation packages. This paper develops a comprehensive and rigorous methodology for measuring and comparing cost of living for expatriates around the world. The value-addition lies in the fact that the authors are able to differentiate between expatriates and ordinary residents, which has not been done in the existing literature. They use higher quality data and generate an index that is not sensitive to the choice of base city.

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