Labour Markets, Institutions and Inequality: Building Just Societies in the 21st Century

'A defining feature of recent decades has been the rise in income inequality within many, but certainly not all, countries, and perhaps most spectacularly in the US and UK. The reigning explanation remains the orthodox story that it's all about supply and demand…. A powerful and welcome antidote, the essays in this fine book make the case that strong institutions are not only 'the building blocks of just societies', but can be, if well-designed, fully consistent with high employment and dynamic economies.'
- David R. Howell, New School for Public Engagement, New York, US

'The worrying trend of growing inequality was the major theme of Davos in January 2014. In this well-researched and argued volume, Janine Berg and her colleagues show convincingly how neglect for distributional concerns and equitable growth policies in macroeconomic policies and labour market policies led to this worrying trend, why a refocusing on distributional issues and equitable growth policies is urgently needed and what needs to be done to achieve that. A must-read for concerned politicians, industrialists, trade unions and researchers.'
- Rolph van der Hoeven, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The Hague, the Netherlands

Labor market institutions, including collective bargaining, the regulation of employment contracts and social protection policies, are instrumental for improving the well-being of workers, their families and society. In many countries, these institutions have been eroded, whilst in other countries they do not exist at all.

Labour Markets, Institutions and Inequality includes empirical case studies, from both developed and developing countries, which examine the role of institutions in ensuring equitable income distribution. The volume discusses the effect of macroeconomic, labor and social policies on inequality, highlighting how specific groups such as women, migrants and younger workers are affected by labor market institutions. Expert contributions demonstrate that in order to reduce inequality, countries must strengthen their labour market institutions through comprehensive policy formulation.

Contributors: C. Behrendt, P. Belser, J. Berg, S. Cazes, J. Martínez Franzoni, S. Gammage, M. Gerecke, D. Grimshaw, S. Hayter, M. Hengge, I. ['Yan'] Islam, C. Kuptsch, J. Ramón de Laiglesia, S. Lee, M. Luebker, J.C. Messenger, U. Rani, N. Ray, G. Reinecke, D. Sánchez-Ancochea, J. Woodall