WORKER POWER, FIRM POWER, AND THE STRUCTURE OF LABOR MARKETS

The purpose of this article is to advance the conceptual development of structurally-oriented approaches to stratification by elaborating a behavioral model of the structure of labor markets that is based on power relations among both individual and collective actors. After reviewing the various approaches to the study of stratification and enumerating some of its shortcomings, a theory of the operation of labor markets that synthesizes a number of the elements in extant theories is presented. A labor market typology is developed based on the relative power of firms and workers and four distinct types of markets are delineated, i.e., worker-controlled, firm-internal, worker-firm negotiated, and competitive. In addition, the dynamics by which these labor markets are transformed is discussed. It is argued that this conceptual framework solves a number of problems inherent in extant theories of the operation of labor markets and the article concludes by suggesting areas for future research based on the theory.     

Squaring Farm Security and Food Security in Two Types of Alternative Food Institutions*

Abstract Even though both farmers' markets and community supported agriculture were first developed to provide markets for farmers, recently the goals of food security have been attached to these market‐based alternative food institutions, based on their potential to be 'win‐win” economic solutions for both small‐scale farmers and low‐income consumers. This article reports on survey and interview research conducted in California during 2004–2005 designed to examine to what extent CSAs and farmers' markets are addressing food security in both concept and practice. Findings show that managers of these institutions generally support the idea of improving the affordability of the food they provide, and most have made an effort to do so, although these efforts vary with institutional capacity. Still, some hedged their interest in supporting food security goals with countervailing concerns such as the need to support farmers first. It is ironic, then, that the way that private CSAs and farmers' markets achieve some elements of food security is by virtue of the support of public food assistance programs.     

次生庇护的交易模式、商业观与市场发展——惠镇石灰市场个案研究

次生庇护是从初级庇护中衍生出的一种交换关系。交易附于其上的市场,便会由于过度嵌入而不自由。本文以惠镇石灰市场作为具有理论相关性的关键个案,旨在基于结构与文化的互联模式视角,考察这种交易模式何以能促进这类市场的发展。个案表明,初期的行商阶段,社会纽带缺席的直接交易模式面临很大风险与不确定性,交易经常失败、市场萎靡;而至坐商阶段,基于次生庇护关系的提篮者—厂商模式则促成了稳定交易和市场秩序的形成。分析揭示,交易虽然嵌入于次生庇护关系,但后者又嵌入并依附于蕴涵社会美德的新型商业观。结构嵌入与文化嵌入的耦合效应是不自由的市场获得发展和新秩序的深层机制。新型商业观及交易的关系依赖虽有结构性起因,但厂商的主动建构和选择行为仍凸显出重要性。     

SPLITTING THE ACADEMY: The Emotions of Intersectionality at Work

Using labor market theory, we assess how we have constructed the teaching of required courses on diversity, with the potential splitting of the academy into distinctive labor markets. In‐depth interviews with instructors of color and nonminorities who teach required diversity‐education courses at a predominately white university are qualitatively assessed and describe the differences in the emotional labor attached to this segmented academic market. We identify specific dimensions of diversity teaching that attach to the job conditions of secondary labor markets, including the distortion of work loads and evidence of differential barriers in the emotional labor attached. These labor market conditions may structurally limit opportunities for career survival and advancement of minority and female instructors.     

LABOR MARKETS, INDUSTRIAL MONOPOLIZATION, WELFARE, AND IMPRISONMENT:

Various theorists posit that the rate of unemployment is linked to the rates of both welfare and imprisonment. This assumes a competitive labor market tied to specific controls of surplus populations. This article argues that contemporary labor markets lie on a continuum between competitive (secondary) and relatively non-competitive (primary) structures which creates a pattern of labor market segmentation. Such segmentation is linked with specific policies of incarceration or welfare, depending on the competitiveness of the labor market. Data from a cross-section of urban, industrial U.S. counties test the relationship between labor market segmentation, monopolization of industries, and the rates of welfare and imprisonment, controlling for a variety of other relevant variables. Regression analyses results suggest that as labor market structures become less competitive (i.e., move from predominantly secondary toward predominantly primary labor market characteristics), rates of welfare recipients and welfare benefits rise and rates of imprisonment fall. They also suggest that increasing industrial monopolization raises rates of imprisonment and lowers rates of welfare benefits. These findings indicate that the two major dimensions of economic segmentation (industrial competition and labor market competition) oppositely affect levels of welfare benefits and rates of imprisonment.     

At what price should Bordeaux wines be released?

This paper models optimal release prices of an experience good recurrently issued on markets. Using a sample of Bordeaux wines, we find that using a minimal number of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes is sufficient to explain a large proportion of release prices. We further observe a significant relationship between primary market prices and secondary market prices and general economic conditions. Release prices can deviate from secondary market prices in the short run but remain aligned over the long run. Finally, an out-of-sample analysis indicates that short-run mispricing directly affects the purchase behavior of customers.     

ECONOMIC CALCULATION UNDER SOCIALISM: THE AUSTRIAN CONTRIBUTION

Economic theories of socialism during the 1930's were based on Walrasian general equilibrium models in which the central planning board was to function as the auctioneer. Socialists assumed that "market socialism" would achieve all the efficiencies characteristic of perfect competition while avoiding the serious market failures of real capitalist economies. The Austrians, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, argued that even market socialism would fail to 'achieve the efficiency of real market capitalism because Walrasian models used to construct the economic theory of socialism left out important features of real markets that generate efficient outcomes. Specifically, the entrepreneurial nature of the adjustment process, the importance of decentralized information and the role of incentives under vaying institutional settings.     

THE EXTENT OF THE MARKET AND INTEGRATION THROUGH FACTOR MARKETS: EVIDENCE FROM WHOLESALE ELECTRICITY

We document the influence of factor markets in determining the extent of the market, appealing to the Mundell hypothesis that trade in goods and factor markets are substitutes. We confirm this influence using the U.S. wholesale market for electric power. Although the Eastern, Western, and Texas regions cannot trade electricity, inputs such as natural gas move freely across these regions. Through a set of price transmission ratios, and a supply model for natural gas, we find regional electricity shocks do propagate across regions. We conclude output markets institutionally in autarky achieve modest degrees of economic integration through factor markets. (JEL C32, L94, Q41)     

SHAPING THE INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Certain types of laws and institutions shape economic behavior in market economies. In Eastern Europe these general rules and market institutions are often nonexistent, and a major problem is to create market economies while simultaneously building the supporting institutions. We describe the type of institutions inherited from Soviet-style economies and show institutional reforms and macroeconomic policies may have limited effects due to the interdependence and lack of complementary market institutions. Without a "critical mass" of market institutions, the benefits of markets are slow in realization. The advantages of reforming existing but distorted institutions over building new ones is stressed.     

On the integration of labor markets: A definition and test of the radical — Segmentation hypothesis

The empirical results of this paper are indicative of overall labor market integration. Segmentation theories are not supported by the high covariability of wage rates supported by this test. If segmentation theories are to mean more than that relative wages differ among industries, proponents of such theories must argue that segmented markets are cut off from other markets and able to resist the forces of supply and demand. Indeed if labor unions are to be able to insulate workers from market forces they must also segment their markets. The results of this paper indicate that unions are not able to insulate their workers from market forces. We are grateful to William Boyes, Dennis Logue, John Bishop, Stephen E. Baldwin, William McEachern, Roger Sherman, and Robert Tollison for comments on earlier versions and to James Bennett and an unidentified referee for comments on this final version.     

A common-features analysis of Amsterdam and London financial markets during the eighteenth century

We examine the financial linkage between the London and Amsterdam financial markets using stock prices recorded in each market over the period 1723-94 in conjunction with tests for common trends, cycles, and regime shifts. These tests reveal a surprising degree of integration between the markets as their prices move together in both the short and long run. Moreover, shocks to the assets translate quickly and accurately between markets. It also appears that Dutch investment did not destabilize London markets and stock prices in London were the primary determinant of prices in Amsterdam.     

Labor Market Structure and Career Occupational Status Mobility: A Theoretical Model*

Sociological explanations of career or intragenerational occupational status mobility generally have not taken into explicit account the effects of labor market structure. Rooted in structural-functionalist sociological theory or neoclassical economic theories of the labor market, models typically misrepresent the process of individual occupational status mobility, primarily by including only individual characteristics. Dual labor market theory is introduced, direct as well as indirect effects of labor market structure on career occupational status mobility are outlined, and a theoretical model is presented. It is hypothesized that labor market structure will have direct effects on opportunities for career occupational status mobility that are independent of the effects of individual characteristics. Additional indirect effects are suggested: through their effects on social network structures, labor markets operate as job opportunity information filters.     

Theorizing transnational labour markets: a research heuristic based on the new economic sociology

In this article, I suggest that transnational labour markets are characterized by their multi‐layered embeddedness, not only in national but also in transnational institutional settings. Hence, the national institutional factors formerly at the centre of sociological labour market theories insufficiently explain the newly emerging transnational labour markets. To account for the full complexity and institutional context of the latter, I propose an inductive theoretical approach to transnational labour markets and develop a research heuristic to instruct empirical studies about particular transnational labour markets and inductive theory building. This heuristic draws on analytical categories as developed by the new economic sociology of markets. The empirical example of the transnational labour market that matches eastern European workers to jobs in the German meat industry serves to illustrate how one can use this heuristic, which reveals some preliminary features of transnational labour markets compared with national ones, as well as some research gaps to be addressed by future studies.     

CRITICAL ISSUES IN THE PRACTICE OF MARKET DESIGN

The years since 1994 have witnessed the emergence of market design as a new discipline within economics, in which research and practice exert powerful mutual influences in matching and auction markets. The problem of designing well‐functioning auction markets has led economic designers to revisit such fundamental issues as the definitions of commodities, the ways participants communicate with markets, the trade‐offs between the incentives provided for truthful reporting and other attributes of mechanism performance, and the determinants of the scope of markets, especially whether and how trade in different goods is linked. (JEL D44, C78)     

MODELING INFORMALITY FORMALLY: HOUSEHOLDS AND FIRMS

Informality is widespread in most developing countries. In Latin America, 50% of salaried employees work informally. Three stylized facts characterize informality: (1) small firms tend to operate informally while large firms tend to operate formally; (2) unskilled workers tend to be informal while skilled ones have formal jobs; (3) ceteris paribus, secondary workers (a worker other than the household head) are less likely to operate formally than primary workers. We develop a model that accounts for all these facts. In our model, both heterogeneous firms and workers have preferences over the sector they operate and choose optimally whether to function formally or informally. There are two labor markets, one formal and the other informal, and both firms and workers act unconstrained in them. By contrast, a prominent feature of the preexisting literature is that workers' decisions play no role in determining the equilibrium of the economy. In our model, policies that reduce the supply of workers in the informal labor market at given wages will increase the level of formality in the economy. This has noteworthy implications for the design of social programs in developing countries. We also show that an increase in the participation of secondary workers would tend to raise the level of informality in the economy. (JEL J24, J33)     

TRADE,GEOGRAPHY AND THE SKILL PREMIUM IN U.S. MANUFACTURING

A number of studies have suggested that countries (or regions) with access to larger markets have higher wages. In this paper, we examine whether access to larger markets affects skilled and unskilled workers differently. We develop a model relating two key measures of market size, market and supplier access, to industry value added prices. We then estimate the effects of growth in these measures on factor returns in U.S. manufacturing industries between 1984 and 1996. We find that growth in these measures can explain around 5% of the rise in the skill premium over the sample period. (JEL F12, F16, L60)     

THE TECHNOLOGY FACTOR AND THE EXPORT PERFORMANCE OF U.S. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

The paper examines two central theories advanced to explain the revealed comparative advantage of U.S. industries. The neo-technological account centers on the process of innovation among industries and is represented in the regression analysis by an R&D intensity variable. The neofactor theory advances both human and "physical" capital as important variables in determining countries' comparative advantage. Foreign protection is postulated to affect the export performance of U.S. industries. Generally the results suggest that U.S. revealed comparative advantage is most pronounced in R&D intensive industries that give the U.S. a temporary technological lead in world markets.     

Introduction to the special theme: theorizing transnational labour markets

In this introduction to the special themed section, ‘Theorizing transnational labour markets: economic‐sociological approaches’, I introduce the reader to the topic and give an overview of the four contributions. The terms ‘global labour market’ and ‘transnational labour market’ are broadly used to account for contemporary social phenomena as diverse as the ever‐closer integration of China or India, with their huge labour forces, into the world economy, the off‐shoring of specific operations of MNCs to countries with cheap labour, or cross‐border labour migration. In most of these cases, the existence of global or transnational labour markets is taken for granted by the media, consulting agencies and other economic actors. However, scholars in labour market research and cross‐border migration alike have largely ignored the categories of global or transnational labour markets. Thus far, it remains unclear what these terms really mean and how we should address them theoretically. The aim of this themed section, therefore, is to view cross‐border labour migration through an economic‐sociological lens and thus bring into dialogue migration and labour market scholarship. By introducing a transnational perspective into labour market research, we hope to make a useful contribution towards theorizing on cross‐border labour markets and thereby overcome the methodological nationalism that seems to have crept into this area of scholarship.     

关于上海若干要素市场发展的思考与对策

上海的要素市场是从20世纪90年代初为适应上海建设经济中心城市而发展起来的,现已初步形成了有形市场和无形市场相结合、全国市场和地方市场相结合、综合性市场与专业性市场相结合的具有相当水平软硬件设施为基础的要素市场体系,但是在要素市场建设和发展中还存在不平衡、不完善、不到位等方面的问题。本文主要分析上海若干要素市场发展的现状与特点,并提出了相应的发展对策。即：上海科技市场要按照构建完整的创新体系的要求,建设全国性的大市场;上海金融市场要按照实现国际金融中心的要求,融入国际性的金融市场体系;上海文化市场要按照统一开放竞争有序的要求,进一步发展文化创意产业;上海服务市场要按照实施服务经济战略的要求,促进长江三角洲一体化大市场的发展;上海房地产市场要按照完善住房保障体系与房地产市场体系建设的要求,在调整中发展。     

A GENDERED CONTEXT OF OPPORTUNITY:

Current research has failed to examine how women's opportunities in the labor market, in combination with their human capital attributes, differentially affect the likelihood that they will live in poverty. This study overcomes this limitation by placing specific emphasis on the role that labor market opportunities play in contributing to, or reducing, women's and men's risk of poverty. In addition, differences in poverty risk by urban and rural labor market areas are examined, as labor market dynamics vary substantially by rurality. Using the PUMS-L and STF3C for 1990, logistic regression techniques are employed to address these issues. Our results indicate that women across all labor market contexts have a significantly higher risk of poverty than men, and incorporation of labor market characteristics fails to explain this higher risk. However, the economic opportunities available in the labor market play an important role in determining how an individual's credentials, family background, and work experience translate into poverty risk. While individual attributes play a smaller role in explaining rural women's likelihood of living in poverty, women in both urban and rural labor markets face more limited economic opportunities than their male counterparts. This suggests that a "gendered" context of opportunity remains a barrier for women's movement out of poverty in both urban and rural labor markets.