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[Review Of The Book Personnel Economics], Gary S. Fields Nov 2011

[Review Of The Book Personnel Economics], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] What is personnel economics? Despite its name (non-economists may be put off by the use of the word “personnel,” which was left behind by what is now called human resource management about a quarter century ago), personnel economics deals with issues of fundamental importance in the workplace. As the editors explain in the introduction, “The literature is distinguished from other parts of labour economics primarily by its focus on problems that are central to business.” Thus, personnel economics is economics, it is that part of economics that deals with workplace issues, and it is firmly grounded in labor economics. …


The Economics Of Retirement Behavior, Olivia S. Mitchell, Gary S. Fields Oct 2011

The Economics Of Retirement Behavior, Olivia S. Mitchell, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

This paper examines the role of economic factors in determining retirement behavior using a unique new data archive on more than 8,700 workers covered by 10 different pension plans. We build on our earlier work by estimating several different retirement models including both linear and discrete choice formulations. This framework provides new insights into how and why retirement ages differ across firms. We conclude that older workers' income opportunities differ depending on their pension rules, which in turn have a powerful influence on their retirement patterns. In addition, the models indicate that older workers' tastes for income are not uniform, …


Labor Retrenchment Laws And Their Effect On Wages And Employment: A Theoretical Investigation, Kaushik Basu, Gary S. Fields, Shub Debgupta Aug 2011

Labor Retrenchment Laws And Their Effect On Wages And Employment: A Theoretical Investigation, Kaushik Basu, Gary S. Fields, Shub Debgupta

Gary S Fields

Many countries have legislation which make it costly for firms to dismiss or retrench workers. In the case of India, the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, requires firms that employ 50 or more workers to pay compensation to any worker who is to be retrenched. This paper builds a theoretical model to analyze the effects of such anti-retrenchment laws. Our model reveals that an anti-retrenchment law can cause wages and employment to rise or fall, depending on the parametric conditions prevailing in the market. We then use this simple model to isolate conditions under which an anti-retrenchment law raises wages and …


Decent Work And Development Policies, Gary S. Fields Nov 2009

Decent Work And Development Policies, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

Welcoming the shift to outcomes which he perceives in the ILO's focus on decent work, the author explores the major issues thus raised. He discusses how to make the notion of decent work more precise in operational terms, and how to develop an integrated approach to economic and social policy in the decent work context, before formulating an empirical approach to assessing the effects of economic growth on decent work. Finally, he outlines a structure for the ILO's planned country reviews of progress towards decent work.