Is Collective Bargaining Pareto Efficient? A Survey of the Literature

It would be difficult, even today, to argue that labour unions are not important economic institutions, and it is this importance that makes their consequences for efficiency so substantial. Interest in the economic analysis of unions was revived in the early 1980s, in large part by a paper by Ian McDonald and Robert Solow, which formalized ideas first expressed in the context of labour markets 35 years earlier by Wassily Leontief. The standard textbook model of the labour union treats the union as a conventional monopoly seller of labour, selecting the wage while the firm chooses the level of employment; McDonald & Solow, however, drew from Leontief’s work to suggest an alternative in which the firm and union negotiate to a Pareto efficient contract. Further theoretical work followed, and a still-growing empirical literature began to develop; a wide variety of empirical procedures and tests have been attempted, with a diverse and contradictory range of findings. Given the importance of the question of union contract efficiency, an up-to-date survey of the literature may be useful in synthesizing past results and pointing the way to future research, and it is this role which the current paper will attempt to fill.     

The Voice Effect of Unions: Evidence from the US

Union voice is part responsible for the increased provision of fringe benefits to union workers and is particularly responsible for the redistribution of benefits towards the preferences of the average union worker. Family friendly benefits are valued more by females so union voice should increase the likelihood that provision of family friendly benefits increases in female dominated union workplaces. Individual level data from the US is used to examine whether union voice exists in this capacity. The paper’s results suggest that female dominated workplaces do tend to have increased access to most family friendly benefits, serving as further evidence that union voice exists in the US.     

Everyday morality in families and a critique of social capital: an investigation into moral judgements,responsibilities, and sentiments in Kyrgyzstani households

This article examines individuals’ lay understandings of moral responsibilities between adult kin members. Moral sentiments and practical judgments are important in shaping kinship responsibilities. The article discusses how judgments on requests of support can be reflexive and critical, taking into account many factors, including merit, social proximity, a history of personal encounters, overlapping commitments, and moral identity in the family. In so doing, we argue that moral responsibilities are contextual and relational. We also analyze how class, gender, and capabilities affect how individuals imagine, expect and discuss care responsibilities. We also offer a critique of social capital theory of families, suggesting that their versions of morality are instrumental, alienated, and restrictive. Although Bourdieu’s concept of habitus overlaps with our proposed moral sentiments approach, the former does not adequately address moral concerns, commitments, and evaluations. The article aims to contribute to a better understanding of everyday morality by drawing upon different literatures in sociology, moral philosophy, postcommunism, and development studies.     

Science and neoliberal globalization: a political sociological approach

The political ideology of neoliberalism is widely recognized as having influenced the organization of national and global economies and public policies since the 1970s. In this article, we examine the relationship between the neoliberal variant of globalization and science. To do so, we develop a framework for sociology of science that emphasizes closer ties among political sociology, the sociology of social movements, and economic and organizational sociology and that draws attention to patterns of increasing and uneven industrial influence amid several countervailing processes. Specifically, we explore three fundamental changes since the 1970s: the advent of the knowledge economy and the increasing interchange between academic and industrial research and development signified by academic capitalism and asymmetric convergence; the increasing prominence of science-based regulation of technology in global trade liberalization, marked by the heightened role of international organizations and the convergence of scientism and neoliberalism; and the epistemic modernization of the relationship between scientists and publics, represented by the proliferation of new institutions of deliberation, participation, activism, enterprise, and social movement mobilization.     

International NGOs and National Regulation in an Age of Terrorism

This article examines the regulation of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Japan to answer two questions. First, to what extent has the domestic institutional context facing INGOs changed following dramatic attacks by transnational terrorists on Western liberal democracies? Second, what effect has new counterterrorism legislation had on the organizational and strategic decisions of INGOs, and thus their locations and operations, since 2001? We argue that formal regulations on non-profits have changed less than expected, given widespread alarm about counterterrorism legislation in non-profit communities around the world. However, a new climate of uncertainty has hampered INGOs ability to adjust appropriately to their new institutional environment. Counterterrorism regulations have thus generated unintended consequences, including inefficiencies, redistribution of resources, and self-censorship that may outweigh the benefits for national security given the limited nature of much of the regulatory change.     

Evolving Network Roles in International Aid Efforts: Evidence from Croatia’s Post War Transition

Social capital is created when members and organizations in a society enact relationships with others. The outcome of these relationships includes new opportunities, information, and access to a variety of resources. The purpose of this article is to study donor communication and relationships that help to build social capital. The site for this study is the evolving nature of donor organization relations with voluntary associations in Croatia from 1999 to 2002. Using network analysis, this article traces how donor–NGO-media relations changed over time and provides suggestions for international donors and NGOs in transitions to maximize the outcome of their communicative relationships.     

The Changing Roles of NGOs in Nepal: Promoting Emerging Rights-Holder Organizations for Inclusive Aid

This article examines the unique roles of NGOs with special attention to the changing socio-political contexts of NGOs in terms of their partnerships with Rights-Holder Organizations (RHOs), which claim the rights of particular groups of excluded population. It reviews an example of the NGO working with RHOs in Nepal. NGO relationships with RHOs are delicate and not always equitable due to their different backgrounds and expertise. NGOs, comprising mostly people who are not members of the rights-holding groups, use their expertise to work for others over fixed periods, whilst RHOs work for their own constituencies through movements. Until the 1990s, NGOs supported so-called ‘beneficiaries’ who were members of excluded groups whose rights were being denied. Today, RHOs are formed directly by excluded groups. Some NGOs are trying to change their role to become promoters for RHOs, whilst others remain as their proxies, which merely creates an extra layer between RHOs and donors. The article attempts to prove that building equitable relationships between NGOs and RHOs is possible if NGOs have professionalism, expertise in capacity development and a readiness to become more inclusive. Though there are still several challenges ahead, such efforts by NGOs make it possible to change funding flows for RHOs and contribute to inclusive aid.     

Identity and Volunteering Intertwined: Reflections on the Values of Young Adults

Volunteering motivation has been studied from many perspectives during the last few decades. These studies have increased our understanding on the individual, dynamic, and reflexive nature of volunteering. Moreover, research that combines volunteering with the concept of identity or role identity has deepened this understanding. Nevertheless, the ways individual volunteers experience and associate volunteering with their personal identities has been little studied. Values can provide an empirical window into the core of personal identity. Identity, values, and volunteering are combined in the approach used in this study, which introduces the theoretical viewpoints of narrative identity and value identity. The analyses of 24 life course interviews demonstrated volunteering can be used in identity work for expressing the core values of individuals. The results also indicate the variety and range of values, which can be associated with volunteering.     

The Prospective Role of Economic Stakeholders in the Governance of Nonprofit Organizations

This article focuses on the nexus between the governance of U.S. nonprofit organizations and their ability to secure the resources necessary to effectively execute their missions. Different sources of nonprofit income are associated with alternative stakeholders. Viewing these constituencies as beneficiary groups, we consider how the particular mix of income sources influences the capacity of nonprofits to generate resources, especially if there is competition among stakeholder groups for control of the organization’s policies and practices. We then ask how nonprofit governance might be modified to improve the ability of the organization to generate resources through a regime of economic stakeholder governance.     

Social Economy and Home Care Services in Quebec: Co-Production or Co-Construction?

Third sector organizations have always played a significant role in the supply of home support services in Quebec, but this supply of services attained a crucial development phase in 1996, with the creation of 100 or so domestic help social economy enterprises (DHSEEs). These DHSEEs complemented the supply of public services delivered by the Quebec state, thus de facto taking part in the dynamics of co-production of services in the context of a mixed economy including the third sector. However, beyond that co-production, these enterprises also have to position themselves in a process of co-construction with the state, that is, in the joint, partnership-oriented construction of public policy, which provides the framework for their participation in services of public interest. Analysis of this public policy thus shows that the situation of DHSEEs in Quebec has swung, depending on the period, between co-production and various types of co-construction. A number of restrictive budget policies and subcontracting practices adopted by the Quebec state, along with tensions among DHSEE groups, curtailed the development of a genuine co-construction process during the 2000s.