The authors use two models from biological science—the evolutionary model of gradual adaptation, and the contrasting punctuated equilibrium theory that posits occasional periods of rapid, fundamental change punctuating longer periods of stability—to define industrial relations...

During the 1970s, Italy experienced an extreme compression of wage differentials, similar to the better-known situation in Sweden. Most evidence suggests that this compression came to a stop around 1982-83, coincident with a major institutional change (in the form of the escalator clause in...