Using the institutional theory of transaction costs, I demonstrate that the assumptions of the competitive labour market model are internally contradictory and lead to the conclusion that on purely theoretical grounds a perfectly competitive labour market is a logical impossibility. By...

In this paper I outline the theory of institutional economics developed by John R. Commons and contrast it with neoclassical economic theory. Key concepts in Commons' theory are bounded rationality, property rights, working rules, institutions, transactions and incomplete contracts. Although...

The most famous and influential diagram in modern (neoclassical) labor economics is the model of wage determination by supply and demand. Using concepts and ideas from institutional economics, I argue that the theory of a perfectly competitive labor market is logically contradictory and, hence,...

The author examines, critiques, and suggests modifications to the psychological assumptions of the rational choice model of the human agent that underlies much of the theoretical work in modern, neoclassical labor economics. He analyzes the rational choice model in terms of three psychological...

The methodological approaches of Ronald Coase and Richard Posner are compared and contrasted with regard to microeconomic theory and its application to law and economics. The central divide is whether positive transaction cost requires a major reworking of the core of neoclassical price theory...

This study surveys the development and current status of models of union wage determination since Dunlop and Ross first wrote on the subject in the 1940s. To start, I identify eight empirical dimensions of the union wage effect that models have endeavored to explain and predict. A number of...

Debate among labor economists on the pros and cons of a minimum wage law has come to focus on whether labor markets are competitive or monopsonistic. Using principles and concepts of institutional economics, the author argues that this perspective on minimum wages is too narrow. In particular,...

'This is an excellent book. Bruce Kaufman, in his ever thoughtful way, has not just analyzed the history of the development of HRM, but assembled 17 chapters in which world-class local experts report on that history in their own country. The book is full of fascinating information, stories and...

"This volume contains country studies of the historical development of human resource management (HRM) in seventeen different nations. The nations span all regions of the world and each chapter is written by a national expert. Primary attention is given to HRM developments in industry, but...