Why Deregulate Labour Markets?

Edited by Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Marino Regini

Ground-breaking study of labour market deregulation
Contributions from leading authors in the field
Contemporary and contentious issue
In-depth nation studies as well as broader based international comparisons
Leading scholars in the field

Why Deregulate Labour Markets?

Edited by Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Marino Regini

Description

Europe's mass unemployment and the call for extensive labour market de-regulation have, perhaps more than any other contemporary issue, impassioned political debate and academic research. With contributions from economists, political scientists and sociologists, Why Deregulate Labour Markets? takes a hard look at the empirical connections between unemployment and regulation in Europe today, utilizing both in-depth nation analyses and broader-based international comparisons. The book demonstrates that Europe's mass unemployment cannot be directly ascribed to excessive worker protection. Labour market rigidities can, however, be harmful for particular groups. The weight of the evidence suggests that a radical strategy of de-regulation would probably cause more harm than benefits for European economic performance.

Why Deregulate Labour Markets?

Edited by Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Marino Regini

Introduction, Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Mario Regini
PART I. LABOUR MARKET REFORM IN EUROPE
The dilemmas of labour market regulation, Mario Regini
The dynamics of labour market reform in European countries, Manuela Samek
Who is harmed by Labour Market Regulations? Quantitative Evidence, Gøsta Esping-Andersen
Regulation and context. Reconsidering the correlates of unemployment, Gøsta Esping-Andersen
PART II. NATIONAL VARIATIONS
River Crossing or Cold Bath? Deregulation and Employment in Britain, Simon Deakin and Hannah Reed
Going different ways: labour market policy in Denmark and Sweden, Anders Björklund
The Dutch miracle?, Cees Gorter
Germany: A regulated flexibility, Susanne Fuchs and Ronald Schettkat
France: The deregulation that never existed, Miguel A. Malo, Luis Toharia and Jerome Gautié
Italy: the long times of consensual re-regulation, Manuel Samek Lodovici
The Spanish experiment: pros and cons of the flexibility at the margin, Luis Toharia and Miguel A. Malo
Conclusions, Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Mario Regini

Why Deregulate Labour Markets?

Edited by Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Marino Regini

Author Information

Edited by Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Professor, University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, and University of Trento, Italy, and Marino Regini, Professor of Sociology, University of Milano, and Director of IRES Lombardia

Why Deregulate Labour Markets?

Edited by Gøsta Esping-Andersen and Marino Regini

Reviews and Awards

"This is an important and very useful book in summarizing and synthesizing a vast and disparate literature on this issue and clarifying some of the trade offs implicit in pursing the high or low road to flexibility and modernizing labour markets. It should provide a very useful resource for teaching for courses in the humanities and at business schools, as well as providing an important contribution to a debate that has not ended." - British Journal of Sociology

"The arguments are delivered in a clear and systematic way. The book presents a good combination of general, comparative perspectives and a more in-depth presentation of national cases ... keeps its distance from statistical macroeconomic approaches: it presents a lot of quantitative material, but also puts it in a social and political context." - Quarterly of the European Trade Union Institute