Full Description
Globalization, financial liberalization and neo-liberal economic policy thinking have been seen as contributors to the demise of social partnership in Western Europe. Recent examples of the re-emergence of social pacts have challenged these assumptions. The book offers a theoretical understanding of the challenges that increasing monetary integration posed for existing modes of adjustment in the political economies of EU member states, and explains why many governments have chosen to negotiate with trade unions over economic adjustment.
Contents
Preface, 1 The Political Economy of Adjustment in Europe, The limits of neo-corporatist analysis, The approach of this book, Methodological issues, Conclusion, 2 Governments and Wages - A Theoretical Framework, Policies on wages, Monetary and wage bargaining regimes in the political economy literature, Explaining policy choices, Conclusion, 3 Policy Options and Institutions: How Governments Respond, Policy options towards the redistributional power of trade unions: market responses and negotiations, The operationalization of variables,7The relationship between institutional and political accommodation, Conclusion, 4 Striving for Conservatism: The Shift in Monetary Regimes, Credibility and the inflation bias, European monetary integration as a tool for achieving central bank conservatism, Central bank independence, monetary policy and government intervention, Government intervention to foster monetary conservatism, 5 The Politics of Government Intervention, Institutional constraints on governments, The shared roots of consensus democracy and corporatist responses: the political fragmentation of trade unions and the role of union-party relations, The role of partisanship, Conclusion: Negotiated adjustment and the role of political institutions, 6 The Responsiveness of Wage Bargaining Institutions, Theoretical assumptions about wage flexibility and the role of wage bargaining institutions, Priorities of trade unions between employment and real wage protection in wage bargaining, an empirical measure, The institutional basis of wage responsiveness, Conclusion: Shifting workers' wage expectations, 7 The Interaction between Wage Bargaining Institutions and Government Intervention, The responsive wage bargaining regimes: Germany and Austria, The non-responsive corporatist countries, Adjustment of wage expectations in the non-corporatist countries with non-responsive wage bargaining regimes, Conclusion: A comparative view on the dynamic between wage bargaining institutions and government intervention, 8 Negotiated Adjustment - A European Approach, Policy options towards trade unions' redistributional power, The interaction of institutions and policies, The nature of negotiated adjustment: Reinforcing mechanisms of trade union incorporation, The German role model, The United Kingdom as the European exception, Outlook: Implications for adjustment under EMU, Appendices, Appendix to chapter 3, Appendix to chapter 5, Appendix to chapter 6, Notes, Bibliography, Index of Names, Index of Subjects.
