The “broken windows” perspective suggests that the erosion of order in a neighborhood leads to elevated fear, retreat from the street, and consequently an environment where more serious crime takes root. I apply the broken windows idea to the workplace. Increasing violations of basic...

Workplace injuries and fatalities in the U.S. create significant economic costs to society. There are two major approaches to valuing these costs: a direct-cost approach and a market-based cost approach. This paper compares the two methods of economic valuation, focusing in particular on how...

This study examines OSHA's ability to improve compliance with health and safety standards by means of enforcement at construction work sites. It examines the relation of enforcement activity on compliance in two segments of the industry: construction contractors in the U.S., consisting of 2060...

The determinants of OSHA performance can be examined by breaking the regulatory process into three elements relating to enforcement, compliance behavior, and the adequacy of standards in addressing safety outcomes. This paper develops and applies this framework to the U.S. construction industry...

This report draws on research that examines how industry structures affect the way employers behave and, in particular, their likelihood to comply with the important provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the primary federal workplace law regulating minimum wage and overtime...

Like many consumer product industries, the apparel industry is being affected by information technology-based changes in the manufacture and retailing of products. Based on detailed business-unit level data, we show that observed heterogeneity in the adoption of modern manufacturing practices by...

A recurring debate in the academic and applied world is whether workplace committees and other forms of employee participation are substitutes or supplements to labor unions. This study addresses this question by examining the effect of workplace committees on the enforcement of public policies....

A recurring debate in the academic and applied world is whether workplace committees and other forms of employee participation are substitutes or supplements to labor unions. This study addresses this question by examining the effect of workplace committees on the enforcement of public policies....