Purpose - Many economists and politicians have declared the price mechanism to be the most effective coordination mechanism. On the contrary, the economic perspectives at the beginning of the ...twenty-first century reveal that an increase in the supply of products does not necessarily engender an increasing demand. That is why more and more economists agree that every society not only can, but also must, choose the combination of coordination mechanisms that are most appropriate under its specific conditions.Design methodology approach - Economic development and growth are approached as being dependent on the development of society and vice versa. The empirical relation between economic openness of a country and the structure of its industrial relations is analysed in relation to different economic outcomes. Special attention is paid to the question whether a policy to engender smaller income differentials does or does not provide a positive drive for the structural change towards a modern information technology-based economy.Findings - Although some authors argue that smaller income differentials coincide with lower productivity rates, this study reveals that there is no such trade-off. Different sets of coordinating mechanisms determine economic performance. The market mechanism is therefore not the overriding force determining economic development. On the contrary, income and education seem to be two drivers of the sectoral shift to an ICT-based service economy.Originality value - Different sets of coordination mechanisms seem to support the same economic performance. This implies that governments should once again take responsibility for structuring the economy and society - that is to enforce a system of reliable justice for the vast majority of citizens.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model to explore the economic consequences of an exogenous skill-biased technological change. Design/methodology/approach – The paper ...develops a theoretical model based on assumptions and conditions that replicate those of a government-sponsored poverty reduction programme in India. Findings – The paper finds that, under certain stated conditions, wage inequality between artisans with improved toolkits and those without is likely to increase, while, under a different set of conditions, this is likely to decrease. Research limitations/implications – Actual wage inequality implications of specific exogenous skill-biased technological changes need to be studied to take the theoretical model further. Practical implications – One major implication is that, when government help is provided by way of an exogenous skill-biased technological change to a fraction of workers, it may have the unintended consequence of increasing wage inequality between the beneficiary and the non-beneficiary workers. In extreme cases, it may even lower the equilibrium wages of the non-beneficiary workers. Originality/value – The paper brings out the critical role of efficiency units of workers with skill-biased technology (artisans with improved toolkits) and those without these in determining the wage inequality between these categories of workers (artisans) based on a theoretical model of the trajectory along which the rural economy moves.
Purpose - Labour usage represents one of the critical elements in the Malaysia construction industry due to severe shortage of local workers. This paper aims to present a construction performance ...comparison between conventional building systems and industrialised building systems (IBS).Design methodology approach - Data were obtained from 100 residential projects through a questionnaire survey in 2005. A total of 100 respondents participated in this study.Findings - Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results indicated that the actual labour productivity comparison between conventional building system and IBS was significantly different. Further, the comparison of crew size indicated that the conventional building system of 22 workers was significantly different from the IBS of 18 workers. Similarly, the cycle time of 17 days per house for conventional building system was found to be significantly different from the IBS of four days. However, the conventional building system was found to be insignificantly different from the IBS in term of structural construction cost.Originality value - The results acquired from this study could be used by project planners for estimating labour input, control costs and project scheduling. Additionally, they could be used to determine the most appropriate structural building system for executing a construction project at the conceptual stage.
New evidence is presented on the degree of aggregate and sectoral labour productivity convergence among 11 EU countries between 1970 and 1990. As with studies for other groups of countries, it is ...found that there is a greater degree of aggregate than sectoral convergence. Aggregate productivity converged at 0.9 percent per annum, with agriculture and manufacturing both diverging and only services converging (0.6 percent p.a.). We contend that structural change provides one explanation for this finding. When measured as changes in sectoral employment shares, structural change accounted for between 50 percent and 66 percent of the overall rate of aggregate productivity convergence among the EU countries over the period. Countries with relatively low levels of aggregate productivity benefited most from structural change.
A fallow management trial was initiated in March 1990 in Yaounde, Cameroon, with the objective of identifying an efficient method of managing residue derived from a planted fallow of Cajanus cajan. ...Ten months after establishment, the shrubs were slashed and residues were treated in one of the following ways: burnt, incorporated in the soil, mulched on soil surface or removed. Following that, maize and groundnut were planted. Soil organic matter was fractionated after the residue treatments, and elementary partial budgeting was conducted. After three cycles of fallow and cropping seasons, maize yield was similar, about 3 t ha^sup -1^, in all plots except in the residue-removed plots, where it was 1.4 t ha^sup -1^. Yield trend of groundnut was also similar. The residue management method did not affect either the nature of fractions or the total content of soil organic matter. The highest net return, US$5945 ha^sup -1^ year^sup -1^, was obtained from the residue incorporated treatment, whereas the highest return to labour, US$11 per manday^sup -1^ was associated with burning of residues. In areas such as the forest zone of Cameroon where labour is a major constraint and climatic conditions allow vigorous vegetation growth, burning appears to be the best method of residues management, at least in the short run.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explain the relationship between economic performance and labour manoeuvrability of township-village enterprises in the Jiangsu province, People's Republic of ...China. Design/methodology/approach – After a concise general overview of recent economic developments in the Chinese economy and the functioning of labour markets, a statistical analysis was performed on economic performance and labour market conditions based on a sample of 103 enterprises in the area considered. Findings – The analysis shows that the flexibility to fire employees has a considerable impact on the rise in added value of the enterprises, whereas hiring flexibility appears to have negligible effects. Research limitations/implications – Although the paper has a limited scope related to one Chinese province, it seems plausible that the results – a positive economic effect of deregulation – have a more general validity, but this would call for a broader comparative study across sectors and regions. Originality/value – The paper thus offers a novel contribution to a better understanding of the economic performance after the fast changes in the Chinese economy.
In this article, the authors sought to study the efficiency of the staff costs and its reflection upon the main economic and financial indicators of a company. In the performed study, the application ...of the factor analysis models was made at the level of an industrial trading company the social object of which is manufacturing automotive subassemblies. The efficiency of the wage costs was monitored by the correlation between the average wage and the labour efficiency as well as by means of the indicators used for the general expression of their efficiency, such as: staff costs at an operating income, turnover or added value of 1,000 Lei. Moreover, highlighting the economic and financial consequences of their modification on the main key performance indicators of the company was considered. The conclusions that were drawn are useful for the management company for the substantiation of the decisions related to the improvement of the usage of the human resources, with direct positive consequences upon the reduction of the wage costs to 1,000 Lei and of the wage costs per product unit, as well as upon the profit increase.
With the tight labour market in Singapore, greater emphasis needs to be put on increasing the utilisation of the woman work force. Although the concerted efforts by the Government are necessary in ...increasing the female labour force participation rate, employers should develop their own equal opportunity guidelines and policies, which will provide women with a suitable job and ensure that they remain employed. This research aims to study the existing human resource policies on women in Singapore organisations. A survey was conducted on 100 Singapore-based organisations to investigate their human resource policies on recruitment and selection, career development, training, compensation, flexible work arrangement and child care arrangements.
New evidence is presented on the degree of aggregate and sectoral labour productivity convergence among 11 EU countries between 1970 and 1990. As with studies for other groups of countries, it is ...found that there is a greater degree of aggregate than sectoral convergence. Aggregate productivity converged at 0.9 percent per annum, with agriculture and manufacturing both diverging and only services converging (0.6 percent p.a.). We contend that structural change provides one explanation for this finding. When measured as changes in sectoral employment shares, structural change accounted for between 50 percent and 66 percent of the overall rate of aggregate productivity convergence among the EU countries over the period. Countries with relatively low levels of aggregate productivity benefited most from structural change.
Besides the models of M. Keynes, R.F. Harrod, E. Domar, D. Romer, Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans model etc., the R.M. Solow model is part of the category which characterizes the economic growth. The paper ...proposes the presentation of the R.M. Solow adjusted model with specific simulation characteristics and economic growth scenario. Considering these aspects, there are presented the values obtained at the economy level, behind the simulations, about the ratio Capital on the output volume, Output volume on employee, equal with the current labour efficiency, as well as the Labour efficiency value.
