This paper is concerned with the determinants of car prices in four European countries: Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, over the period 1970-1985. The main focus of the study lies in explaining the levels of, and the changes in, the large price differentials observed across the...

This paper explains why some employees who favor unionization fail to join, and why others who wish to abandon union membership continue paying dues. Our explanation is based on a model where employees incur switching (search) costs when attempting to abandon (acquire) union membership....

Does good management and higher productivity come at the expense of work-life balance? Or is good work-life balance an important component of the management of successful firms? New research by Nick Bloom, Tobias Kretschmer and John Van Reenen finds evidence for a hybrid view between these two...

Computers and ICT have changed the way we live and work. The latest WERS 2004 provides a snapshot of how using ICT at the workplace has changed our working lives. Various studies have suggested that the use of a computer at work boosted earnings by as much as 20%. Others suggest this reported...

Why has globalisation brought such large increases in exports to some countries and not to others? Stephen Redding and Anthony Venables look at the way internal geography and domestic institutions seem to be a large part of the answer.

What is the relationship between the structure of earnings within firms and their business and employment performance? A major CEP project led by David Marsden has been using new European data to examine the role that firms' performance management systems play in the macroeconomy. In particular,...

The market is a place where people behave quite relentlessly. If one person is selling a particular commodity at a higher price than others, no one will buy that commodity from him, however virtuous or merciful he is known to be. Of course, the actual world does not always work exactly in this...

One of the most striking changes in labor market policy of the past fifty years has come in the form of legislation to limit discrimination in the workplace based on race, gender, disability and age. If such measures are to be effective in ending discrimination, they need to be enforced. The...

The introduction of performance-related pay in England's schools has had a generally bad press. But David Marsden and Richard Belfield find that it is starting to have a positive impact both on school management and pupils' academic achievements.