Pattern bargaining stands out as both an under-researched and controversial subject. This article is an analytical and empirical contribution to this debate. Theoretically, it provides a conceptual framework, which enables analysis to systematically differentiate between distinct forms of...

Industrial relations and welfare state are interrelated. On the basis of time-series data for 20 OECD countries, this paper discusses and tests the impact of industrial relations on social expenditures, including 'social pacts' as a means of combining wage moderation and welfare state reforms....

Based on data for 20 OECD countries, this paper analyses the effect of bargaining centralization on performance and control over the employment relationship. Rejecting both the corporatist thesis and the hump-shape thesis, the paper finds that performance either increases or decreases with...

Conventional wisdom regards wage regulation as uncoordinated across Europe. In relation to advanced economic integration, this implies a `suboptimal' wage area, which led to many conjectures about its consequences, ranging from disorganization of collective bargaining to adverse macro-economic...