Labour market: selected readings

In considering these problems the economist often takes for granted features of labour which are the concern of others. Morale, the capacity of the worker, and his scale of preferences are assumed to be given, and institutions are ignored unless they are shown to influence behaviour, wages, and employment. The political allegiances of workers and trade unions and the problems of trade-union democracy are outside his purview, interesting though they may be to others. Nevertheless, the labour economist has often to wander outside his discipline because labour matters: workers cannot be bought and sold, and people cannot be dis associated from their services.
This volume of readings does not seek to be comprehensive, It attempts to reflect the economist's propensity to theorize and his current desire to test his theories by showing, for instance, how abstract models which embody basic features of labour markets yield predictions that have to be checked against the usual results of actual markets. The volume also tries to embrace the current preoccupations of economists with problems that have social and political implications, such as incomes policies, the powers and responsibilities of trade unions, and unemployment, all of which demand the tools of nics for their understanding and appreciation.