The wave of upbeat stories on the developing world's emerging middle class has reinvigorated a debate on how social class in general and the middle class in particular ought to be defined and empirically measured. With the aim of adding clarity to this debate, this dissertation provides a...

Introduction: globalization and precarious forms of production and employment: challenges for workers and unions / Carole Thornley, Steve Jefferys and Beatrice Appay -- In the age of Wal-Mart: precarious work and authoritarian management in the global supply chain / Nelson Lichtenstein --...

Between 2000 and 2013, Latin America has considerably reduced poverty (from 46.3 to 29.7 % of the population). In this paper, we use synthetic panels to show that, despite progress, the region remains characterized by substantial vulnerability that also affects the rising middle class. More...