Labor market institutions and the political economy of power

From Moudud and Ilkkaracan new special issue of ROKE on labor market institutions and the political economy of power:

The drive for labor market flexibility has become something of an intellectual and political crusade in the past several decades. As part of the conventional ‘best practice’ view of economic policy, labor market flexibility can be considered to be at the heart of what Thomas Friedman calls the Golden Straitjacket into which all countries need to fit themselves in order to be successful [...] in the same vein as Margaret Thatcher's ‘There Is No Alternative’ (or TINA).
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This collection of papers makes a unique contribution towards a theoretical conceptualization of labor markets and their complex interactions with macroeconomic phenomena (unemployment and productivity), institutions (workplace organization, regulatory frameworks, labor or employer organizations) and the political economy of power. By bringing these papers together, the special issue aims to provide the elements of a theoretical reconceptualization supported by empirical analyses and firmly rooted in the real world; far more convincing than the dominating neoclassical model rooted in a chimerical idealized model of competition. Hence the collection also suggests the possibility of an alternative social democratic policy framework, where the goal of increasing prosperity is compatible with decent work and equality.

Get the whole issue here.