This paper uses establishment data to estimate the determinants of using agency workers. It contends that those employers with less ability to direct effort of core workers are more likely to use agency workers to meet uncertain labor demand. Family friendly practices are viewed as either...

High performance workplaces elicit greater involvement and productivity from employees but past theory and evidence remain divided on whether or not such workplaces are compatible with family friendly work practices. We present new evidence on the association using perceptions of a...

We use Australian establishment data to estimate the determinants of incentive schemes. Hypotheses are drawn from the new economics of personnel and the strategic choice literatures. Larger firms are more likely to use individual schemes such as piece rates. Firms where female workers...

The 1/n problem potentially limits the effectiveness of profit sharing in motivating workers. While the economic literature suggests that reciprocity can mitigate this problem, it remains silent on the optimal degree of reciprocity. We present a representative model demonstrating that...

The authors estimate the determinants of five types of variable payment schemes using panel data on German establishments in 1994 and 1996. Women were disproportionately included in schemes based on individual productivity and on profit-sharing, but not in those based on work group productivity....

In initial cross-section estimates using data from the 1991-94 British Household Panel Study, the authors find that union members had lower overall job satisfaction than non-union members, and public sector workers had higher satisfaction than private sector workers. Controlling for individual...

A 1996 survey of Hong Kong establishments designed to identify hiring and employment patterns by workers' age shows that, as in the United States, many firms employed older workers but did not hire older workers. This pattern appears to reflect mainly economic forces, rather than public policy,...

Many studies have examined the influence of union density (union members as a percentage of all workers) on earnings in the private sector, but few such studies have looked at the public sector. Using data from the 1991 Current Population Survey, this study estimates the determinants of earnings...

This paper examines the set of surplus maximizing mergers in a model of mixed oligopoly. The presence of a welfare maximizing public firm reduces the set of mergers for which two private firms can profitably merge. When a public firm and private firm merge, the changes in welfare and profit...