Wage inequality is a particular focus of attention not only in public debates over the need for social regulation to support equity, but those over the implications of social regulation for productive performance. The present paper employs panel techniques to examine the comparative historical...

The paper challenges the pervasive view that economic internationalisation necessarily undermines national political economies and renders unworkable state action in support of social protection and the social regulation of employment. Whilst it is commonly assumed that globalisation must erase...