The chapter first introduces Tarantelli’s thought on the role of labour economics and social pacts. The implementation of his proposals for a social pact in Italy is then discussed and compared to similar experiences in Europe. Attention is finally devoted to developing a theory of social...

The chapter presents a model somehow inspired to Tarantelli. It first shows how important the value of the parameters reflecting nominal rigidities and industrial relations can be for the dynamics of the system. The indexation system has a certain influence on the former, in line with...

The chapter documents the rising trend in wage inequality in Europe and trace it back to a number of factors. Industrial relations have an influence on the degree of wage dispersion, thus being a determinant of macroeconomic performance. Social pacts do not necessarily have a negative influence...

The chapter reconstructs Tarantelli’s suggestions for putting the inflation of the ’70s to an end in Italy. He proposed to pre-determine wage increases in order to guide prices along a path agreed by social partners and also advocated using incomes policy as an instrument of coordination for...

The chapter restates Tarantelli’s approach to macroeconomic stabilisation and the role of wage bargaining institutions. It also discusses the patterns and variation in the institutional make-up of wage bargaining since 1980, documenting the evolution of the social pacts stipulated in Europe...

The chapter adheres to a school of interpretation which is sceptic with respect to the virtues of neo-corporatism while asserting the several other institutional aspects, referred both to the labour market and the overall economic system that affect the macroeconomic performance. The chapter is...

The chapter presents a model, where the union is interested in the level of wages, employment and the level of public expenditure. Social pacts are shown not only to lead to a superior macroeconomic performance, but to be also acceptable by unions. The key to their acceptability lies in the...

The chapter deals with the overall impact of the comprehensive incomes policy adopted in Italy in July 1993. The extraordinary merits of the agreement in curbing inflation are recognized, along with some incompleteness (with respect to Ezio Tarantelli’s proposal) in the way on one hand the...

The chapter acknowledges the lack of a theory of social dialogue. In spite of this weakness, the author argues that efficient bargaining/Coase theorem can be a valuable ideal for analyzing social dialogue systems like most EU economies, compared to the perfectly functioning competitive model...

Social pacts have long been a centrepiece of European politics. They are characterized by negotiations among government, employers, workers, and other interest groups over wages and other economic issues. With the growth of globalization and pervasiveness of knowledge, some economists have...