Where is the market failure? A review of OSHA’s economic analysis for its proposed ergonomics standard

conclusion OSHA justifies its proposed regulation on the basis of “market failures in employ-ment and insurance markets. However, the Administration's own analysis demonstrates that about half of the benefits of the proposed regulation accrue directly to industry. It appears that the marginal social costs and marginal private benefits of achieving OSHA's desired level of workplace safety are approximately equal, implying no need for further government intervention. Our analysis demonstrates the following points: • When the total costs and benefits of OSHA's proposed standard are com-pared across all industries, no significant market failure is evident — the benefits to industry are approximately equal to the costs — indicating that government intervention is unnecessary. The authors thank Michael Liu and Alison Pan for their excellent research assistance on this project.     

Nonwage benefits as a limited-dependent variable: Implications for the impact of unions

To better delineate the role of unionism in influencing the provision of nonwage benefits, this article argues that benefits should be viewed as a limited-dependent variable. Employing such an approach, the study finds that previous OLS estimates of the union effect embody substantial biases, which vary by industrial and employee-group classification. Moreover, the role of unionism — plan initiation versus ability to augment benefit levels at established plans — varies according to employee group, industrial classification, and the type of benefits.     

The quantity and quality of new immigrants to the US

Since immigration to the US began to accelerate in the 1970s, economic and social policy issues surrounding immigration frequently raise concern and generate debate. These policy debates often aim to mitigate the costs of immigration and augment the benefits. Key to this is understanding the characteristics of immigrants, especially those related to economic success and integration. A commonly accepted finding in the economic literature regards the declining economic “quality” of successive immigrant cohorts as measured by differences in entry wages across cohorts. In this paper, I refine our understanding of immigrant cohort quality. I show that increasing competition in the labor market among immigrants can explain a significant portion of declining “quality”. This result suggests that labor market interactions are as important to immigrant economic integration as their inherent “quality”.     

Technology and labor relations: Railroads and ports

Conclusion Railroad and port unions have dealt in various ways with technological change — from anticipating its possibility through restrictive work rules to mitigating its effects through employment — and income-protection agreements to attempting to participate in its benefits in the form of supplementary compensation. Collectively these policies imposed great costs on railroads and ports.     

Rethinking Kink: Sadomasochism as Serious Leisure

Based on extensive ethnographic research in a public SM (sadomasochism) community, this paper frames SM as recreation. Drawing on Robert Stebbins’ work on “serious leisure” (1982), I posit that in order to more adequately understand SM as it occurs in this community, we need to shift from mainstream assumptions of SM as (simply) “kinky sex” to a more nuanced perspective. I explore the unique skills required in order to engage in SM, as well as the benefits and rewards that participants derive from it, in order to illustrate that SM can be more usefully understood as serious leisure.     

“Family-Friendly” Fringe Benefits and the Gender Wage Gap

Evidence suggests a large portion of the gender wage gap is explained by gender occupational segregation. A common hypothesis is that gender differences in preferences or abilities explain this segregation; women may prefer jobs that provide more “family-friendly” fringe benefits. Much of the research provides no direct evidence on gender differences in access to fringe benefits, nor how provision affects wages. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we find that women are more likely to receive family-friendly benefits, but not other types of fringe benefits. We find no evidence that the differences in fringe benefits explain the gender wage gap.

Soil-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide,methane and nitrous oxide in urban garden systems: impact of irrigation,fertiliser and mulch

Urban green spaces provide important ecosystem services, such as amenity, biodiversity, productivity, climate amelioration, hydrological and biogeochemical cycling. Intensively managed urban gardens can sequester carbon through vegetation growth and soil C increase, but may experience nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions and reduced soil methane (CH₄) uptake from irrigation and fertiliser use. Soil atmosphere exchange of N₂O, CH₄ and carbon dioxide (CO₂) was measured in lawn and wood chip mulched garden areas in Melbourne, Australia in winter, spring and summer under various water and fertiliser regimes. Gas exchange before and after lawn fertiliser application was measured continuously for three weeks using an automated chamber system. Applying fertiliser led to a peak N₂O emission of >60 μg N m⁻² h⁻¹, but overall only weekly irrigation (10 mm) significantly increased mean soil N₂O emissions above that in other treatments. Under mulch, mean soil N₂O emissions (14.0 μg N m⁻² h⁻¹) were significantly smaller than from irrigated lawn (27.9 μg N m⁻² h⁻¹), whereas mean soil CH₄ uptake under mulch (−30.7 μg C m⁻² h⁻¹) was significantly greater (p < 0.01) than in any lawn treatment. Lawns were either a weak CH₄ sink or source. Soil C density (0–25 cm) under mulch (12.5 kg C m⁻²) was greater that under lawn (8.0 kg C m⁻²). On a carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-e) basis, soil N₂O emissions offset the benefits of soil CH₄ uptake. Mulched garden areas provide greatest C sequestration potential in soil and vegetation and the smallest non-CO₂ emissions, as soil CH₄ uptake offsets a large fraction of soil N₂O emissions. Results of this study suggest that reducing the irrigation and fertiliser application to lawns can help mitigate GHG emissions from urban garden systems, and increasing the area of mulched perennial garden beds can also provide net GHG benefits; however, this needs to be tested in other garden systems with different soil types and environmental conditions.     

Representatives and districts

Why would any group want to have a decision-making body composed of representatives? The best answer is found in the “Anti-Federalist ideal” identified by Wood [1992]: if within-group benefits are highly correlated, a legislature composed of randomly chosen representatives that maximized its own well-being would maximize the well-being of the entire polity. This argument for representative government implies that the best districting schemes are the most segregated: within-district variance is minimized. Received: 9 June 1997/Accepted 28 December 1998     

Participation and accountability in corporate community involvement programmes: a research agenda

Corporate community involvement (CCI) is catching up among businessesoperating in developing countries under the wave of corporatesocial responsibility (CSR). Significantly, CCI discourse theworld over is shifting from ‘involvement’ to ‘investment’,the latter advancing the business case. This shifting paradigmdepicts a calculative approach to CCI based on costs and benefits,revealing reciprocal yet unequal corporate–community relationships.This approach when implemented in already disadvantaged communitiesraises fears of exploitation rather than community empowerment.This article critiques the predominant approaches applied inCCI and their implications towards poverty reduction and sustainablecommunity development efforts in developing countries.     

Caught Between Love and Money: The Experiences of Paid Family Caregivers

This paper considers the experiences of family home care providers, paid an hourly wage by California’s In Home Supportive Services program to care for disabled or elderly relatives. These caregivers are unique in that they provide care in what Arlie Hochschild calls the “third sector” of social life, where norms and responsibilities tied to work and family intersect. Drawing on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations of family home care providers, we find that providers perceive their paid caregiving as deviant behavior that violates social norms surrounding family care, i.e. that people should not be paid for the care of kin. Family caregivers manage the norm violation associated with their carework by offering “accounts” that 1) emphasize the tasks and skill associated with caregiving and 2) by framing their carework as a public good that benefits the larger community. These accounts allow family providers to distance themselves from the norm violation of receiving a wage for care and to reconstruct their actions in a positive light.     

A Dialogical Model for Engaging Spirituality in Therapy

This article addresses the issue of engaging client diversity in therapeutic practice by elaborating a dialogical model of engagement that is sensitive to and inclusive of the spiritual dimension in the therapeutic encounter. Drawing on Martin Buber’s writings on the ‘I–Thou’ relationship, the concept of intersubjectivity, research on spirituality in therapy, and the authors’ clinical experiences of collaboratively engaging the spiritual dimension in therapy, strategies of engagement are critically examined. Treatment benefits of practices that facilitate the inclusion of client spiritual values and beliefs in the therapeutic conversation are explored and potential therapeutic pitfalls are identified.     

Minimum wages and the wessels effect in a monopsony model

The Wessels model suggests that firms respond to increases in the minimum wage rate by decreasing the level of fringe benefits — an action which produces an inefficiency effect that lowers workers’ utility and the supply of labor. Standard models of monopsony, however, argue that wage floors prevent the exercise of market power and increase employment. I show that wage floors, even with fringe benefit curtailment, may increase employment by lowering the marginal expense of labor. Employee utility and employment will rise somewhat but not as much had the firm acted competitively in setting both wages and fringes.     

The effects of regulation on public sector labor relations: Theory and evidence

This paper assesses the effects of public sector collective bargaining laws on employee unionization, the bargaining process and bargaining outcomes, including pay, benefits and nonmonetary aspects of employment. Although several specific effects — positive and negative, direct and indirect — of regulation in this area have been reported by researchers, most studies do not deal adequately with the issues of model specification or simultaneity, thus calling their validity into question. The helpful comments of Professors John T. Delaney, Craig Olson, and Donna Sockell are gratefully acknowledged.     

Long-term care insurance in Japan

Among all the industrialized countries, Japan has the fastest rate of population aging and the highest life expectancy at birth. It is projected that the proportion of elderly people will reach 35.7% in 2050. In this demographic environment, Japan launched a social insurance program for long-term care for the elderly in 2000. What were the forces that led Japan to establish a long-term care program for elderly people? What are the provisions for financing, benefits, and service delivery? What aspects of policymaking in developing such a program are unique to Japan?.     

Habitat fragmentation and conservation strategies for a rare forest habitat in the Florida Keys archipelago

Habitat loss and fragmentation are principal causes for population declines and the loss of biodiversity across the globe. In the United States, tropical hardwood hammock is a threatened forest ecosystem that occurs only in extreme south Florida, primarily on the Florida Keys archipelago. This rare forest type is characterized by high plant diversity that is strongly influenced by tropical, mast-producing trees and shrubs of West Indian origin. Tropical hardwood hammocks in the Florida Keys provide important habitat for resident and migratory birds, particularly Neotropical species that rely on suitable stopover habitat during migration. The Florida Keys are under intense development pressure, particularly in higher elevation sites where tropical hardwood hammock occurs. With exception of a survey completed during 1991 in the Upper Keys, information regarding habitat loss and current coverage, conservation status, and how best to conserve remaining patches of this rare forest habitat are lacking. We used a Geographic Information Systems approach to assess the extent of loss and fragmentation of tropical hardwood hammock in the upper Keys during 1991–2004, quantify area and number of hammock patches under private ownership and in conservation status throughout the Florida Keys as of 2004, and evaluate strategies to most effectively conserve large blocks of remaining tropical hardwood hammock. Total remaining hammock habitat throughout the Keys encompassed 3,712 ha and hammock habitat declined by 31% in the upper Keys during 1991–2004. Hammock habitat in the upper Keys encompassed 1,962 ha among 124 habitat patches (median = 1.5 ha, range = 0.1–205.7 ha), of which 1,066 ha (54%) were under conservation status. Hammock habitat in the lower Keys encompassed 1,750 ha among 102 patches (median = 4.4 ha, range = 0.3–96.3 ha), of which 1,283 ha (73%) were protected under conservation status. Approximately 37% of total remaining hammock habitat remained unprotected. However, our analyses revealed that many unprotected areas >20 ha were contiguous with protected hammocks. Safeguarding 22 partially protected patches >20 ha (17% of remaining patches) would protect an additional 750 ha of hammock habitat, which represents 55% of all remaining unprotected hammock habitat in the Keys, and would increase the mean patch size of these larger forest patches from 55 to 89 ha. Consequently, strategically focusing conservation efforts on remaining forest patches of tropical hardwood hammock >20 ha in size and contiguous to existing protected areas represents the most effective use of conservation dollars and would provide greater ecological benefits than conservation of small patches of highly fragmented habitat.     

“It’s the Job that I Love”: Bike Messengers and Edgework

Bike messengers work in a dirty and dangerous occupation with low pay and no benefits. At the same time, many messengers consider their occupation to be their primary source of identity. In contrast to “dirty work” studies, which focus on organizational structures and workgroup ideologies, this paper explores how the creativity and spontaneity of courier labor allows messengers to become emotionally attached to their job. Bike messengering brings the thrill-seeking of leisure pursuits into the workplace, which creates an authentic self intimately tied to the occupation—an exceedingly difficult feat in an increasingly rationalized system of labor.     

Legal and policy implications of the flexible employment relationship

V. Conclusion The flexible employment relationship encompassing as it does so many different kinds of arrangements — temporary, leased, homeworking, telecommuting, jobsharing, and consulting workers — is not a good candidate for the kinds of across-the-board regulatory proposals that are presently popular. Although the negatives of involuntary contingent employment receive considerable attention (relatively lower wages, the absence of access to benefit plans), the advantages (mutual flexibility and the opportunity to transmit/receive training and experience) do not. Proposals to raise the relative cost of employing contingent workers need to address each of the following three concerns: First, the mix of “employees” and independent contractors some of whom voluntarily fill the ranks of contingent workers; second, the absence of any meaningful job protections or legal claims to nonmandated benefits by mostcore workers; and, finally, the possibility that in some cases contingent workers’ wages operate asde facto sub-minimum training wage. More empirical work is needed in order to evaluate each of these issues. In the meantime, a case has yet to be made for altering the existing regulatory framework facing employers of flexible workers. I am indebted to Joseph Salama for research assistance and to Michael Harper, Keith N. Hylton, Stephen Marks, and Larry Yackle for helpful comments.     

Pensions and the uses of ignorance by unions and firms

Pensions are contingent claims contracts that are often fashioned by collective bargaining under conditions of asymmetric information and market power. Pensions are not an employer’s or a union’s optimal contract; they represent compromise. Employers use pensions to minimize labor costs and to adjust to market changes. Pensions help unions improve and protect their members’ work lives and help unions to survive as institutions. When workers’ estimations of their pensions differ from their employers’ estimations a moral hazard can exist. Less mobile workers and those with less influence subsidize the pension benefits of other workers or reduce an employer’s costs. Econometric results based on data from the President’s Commission on Pension Policy show that certain workers, namely women, overvalue their plans, which provides an opportunity to lower labor costs and redistribute benefits. Unions have a contradictory effect on information. The author thanks participants in the Cornell University Collective Bargaining workshop and the Harvard Labor Economics workshop. I especially thank James Medoff for his comments.     

Institutional Infrastructure and Economic Performance: Dynamic Panel Data Evidence

This paper attempts to empirically investigate the link between institutional quality and economic performance in a group of 72 countries during 1980–2001, using dynamic panel data analysis. Five institutional indicators that represent the overall institutional infrastructures of an economy are employed, namely corruption, rule of law, bureaucracy, repudiation of contracts and risk of expropriation. The empirical results demonstrate that institutions’ variables are statistically significant determinants of economic performance. The findings also suggest that the effects of institutional quality vary according to the level of economic development, where institutions are more responsive in the low-income and middle-income countries. In terms of specific effect of institutional development, the results reveal that the higher level of rule of law is most potent in delivering long-run economic benefits.     

Residence laws and unionization in municipal labor markets: The case of firefighters

An estimate is made of the impact of residence laws and unionization on compensation (wages plus major fringe benefits) as well as on employment of municipal firefighters. In addition, hypotheses about the manner in which residence laws exert these effects are econometrically tested using data obtained by surveying the mayors of 560 municipalities. The standard view — that is, that residence laws restrict labor supply — is not supported by the empirical evidence. Rather, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that residence laws affect compensation by altering the bargaining environment; for example, effects of unions are weaker when there are residence laws. The authors would like to express their appreciation to David Lewin and Ronald Ehrenberg for their helpful advice and thoughtful comments, and to two anonymous referees for suggestions which indubitably improved the paper. Significant research assistance was provided by Glen Elder. Financial support by the Institute of Industrial Relations is gratefully acknowledged.