Coordinated Capitalism and Monetary Union: Wage Bargaining and Social Partnerships in the Euro-Era

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorDumka, Ivan Frederick
dc.contributor.supervisorVerdun, Amy
dc.date.accessioned2015-04-30T22:39:58Z
dc.date.available2015-04-30T22:39:58Z
dc.date.copyright2015en_US
dc.date.issued2015-04-30
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Political Scienceen_US
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.en_US
dc.description.abstractThroughout the Eurozone’s economic crisis, little attention has been given to wage-setting practices. This lack of attention is surprising given that wages have been considered an important instrument for managing the economy in a currency union since the 1960s and have even been emphasized in successive blueprints for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Recent scholarship has found differences in wage-setting practices a key feature distinguishing healthy and crisis-stricken Eurozone countries. Indeed, in this emerging literature, countries that coordinate wages effectively have remained competitive under EMU and had fewer troubles in responding to the crisis, while those with weakly-coordinated wages have struggled mightily. In effect, this literature finds differences in EMU members’ wage-setting regimes at the heart of the economic crisis now facing the Eurozone and the trade imbalances between its Northern and Southern members. However, very little work has examined the specifics of individual labour market models under EMU. Indeed, while this new literature on wage setting and the crisis places wage setting models at its centre, it does not delve into the differences among highly coordinated systems. This oversight is problematic given that scholars of monetary union have suggested that the single currency may amplify the effects of subtle differences in national socioeconomic models, while others have suggested that EMU may be corrosive to some labour market models that coordinate wage setting. This study addresses this gap in the literature, dissecting labour market models by the mechanisms that deliver horizontal and vertical coordination, as well as the indicators to which they are calibrated. Using this framework, it then traces the experiences of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands under EMU, who use very different mechanisms to coordinate wages. It argues that while EMU has exacerbated longstanding problems in the Belgian wage-bargaining system, it has had little impact upon the German and Dutch systems. Rather, underlying changes in the institutions that manage wage setting in these countries, and changes in social partner organizations – particularly the trade unions – are far more consequential for their continued functioning under EMU. More broadly, these findings suggest that in fact, many designs of highly coordinated wage setting are capable of managing pressures from the single currency. For those Eurozone countries currently refashioning their labour market models, tighter coordination may be just as viable an option as dismantling their wage-bargaining institutions.en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0615en_US
dc.description.proquestemailifdumka@gmail.comen_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/6105
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectEuropean politicsen_US
dc.subjectPolitical economyen_US
dc.subjectCollective bargainingen_US
dc.subjectEconomic and Monetary Unionen_US
dc.subjectWage coordinationen_US
dc.subjectEurozone crisisen_US
dc.subjectTrade unionsen_US
dc.subjectSocial partnershipen_US
dc.subjectComparative Politicsen_US
dc.subjectBelgiumen_US
dc.subjectGermanyen_US
dc.subjectThe Netherlandsen_US
dc.titleCoordinated Capitalism and Monetary Union: Wage Bargaining and Social Partnerships in the Euro-Eraen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Dumka_Ivan_PhD_2015.pdf
Size:
1.82 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
An excellent dissertation project by Ivan Frederick Dumka
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.74 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD)
Theses (Political Science)
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.