{"title":"Job satisfaction and workplace representation in Europe","authors":"John T. Addison, Paulino Teixeira","doi":"10.1111/manc.12499","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12499","url":null,"abstract":"The backdrop to this inquiry into the relationship between worker job satisfaction and workplace representation in European nations is twofold. The first is that the bulk of research has focused on union membership and job satisfaction in Anglophone nations with their very different industrial relations systems and bargaining arrangements. The second and more immediate context is the dramatic shift from negative to positive in the association between union membership and job satisfaction (inter al.) observed in the most recent literature. Using data on 28 European nations from the last two waves of the European Working Conditions Survey, however, we report that workers in establishments with <jats:italic>formal workplace representation</jats:italic> record lower job satisfaction than their counterparts in plants without such representation. These findings of conditional correlation are then upgraded by constructing a pseudo‐panel with cohort fixed effects to take account of unobserved worker heterogeneity. First‐difference estimates suggest that the negative relationship between worker representation and job satisfaction found in cross section continues to hold. Next, an endogenous treatment effects model is deployed to address the possible endogeneity of worker representation. The results are supportive of a causal negative relationship between job satisfaction and worker representation. One interpretation of our findings is that in the matter of the association between unions and job satisfaction the jury is still out.","PeriodicalId":501079,"journal":{"name":"The Manchester School","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142198901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Equilibrium vertical structure with a common supplier","authors":"Kangsik Choi, Sangheon Han, DongJoon Lee","doi":"10.1111/manc.12498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12498","url":null,"abstract":"We consider a vertically related market, in which each downstream firm produces a differentiated product by assembling a key input produced by a common supplier and another input produced by a dedicated upstream firm. On the one hand, vertical integration has the advantage of inducing the common supplier to set a lower input price, but the disadvantage of reducing downstream firms' competitiveness in the downstream market. On the other hand, vertical separation has the advantage of increasing downstream firms' competitiveness in the downstream market but the disadvantage of inducing the common supplier to set a higher input price. Contrary to results of previous studies, we find that the existence of a common supplier can lead to vertical integration under Cournot competition, which emerges as a unique equilibrium when a common supplier adopts input discrimination. Although vertical integration is better for the individual firms, it reduces the total welfare. Even when the common supplier uses uniform input pricing, vertical integration also emerges in equilibrium.","PeriodicalId":501079,"journal":{"name":"The Manchester School","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142225451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Institutional factors influencing productivity in medieval England: A case study of tin, lead and silver mining","authors":"C. Casson, Mark C. Casson","doi":"10.1111/manc.12472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12472","url":null,"abstract":"This paper fills a gap in recent literature on productivity and regional development by examining the determinants of productivity in primary industries in English regions during the Middle Ages. It provides a comprehensive review of relevant literature on the tin, lead and silver mining industries in Medieval England. Modern studies of productivity typically focus on technology, labour skills, unionization and regional economic infrastructure as key determinants of productivity growth and focus on high‐technology manufacturing industries This study of medieval mining, however, focuses on extractive industries in which advanced technologies played only a limited role. The paper shows that alternative factors contributed to the productivity of medieval mining including royal policy, the location of deposits and fluctuations in demand. Technology, investment in training and worker activism had, in contrast, little impact.","PeriodicalId":501079,"journal":{"name":"The Manchester School","volume":" 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139792607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bertrand‐Cournot profit reversal under non‐commitment process innovation","authors":"Qidi Zhang, Leonard F. S. Wang, Arijit Mukherjee","doi":"10.1111/manc.12471","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12471","url":null,"abstract":"We provide a new reason for Bertrand‐Cournot profit reversal. In a symmetric oligopoly, we show that firms get higher profits under Bertrand competition compared to Cournot competition under non‐commitment process innovation if the products are sufficiently differentiated and there is positive knowledge spillover. As the number of firms increases, the degree of product differentiation over which the profits are higher under Bertrand competition can increase. Higher outputs under Bertrand competition compared to Cournot competition generate higher R&D investments under the former than the latter, which is responsible for our result.","PeriodicalId":501079,"journal":{"name":"The Manchester School","volume":"359 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139796315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}