Institutions and Wage Formation in the New Europe

Book Description

Institutions and Wage Formation in the New Europe addresses the role played by institutions in European wage formation with a focus on EMU and institutional change in labor markets.

Under this general heading there are three broad but distinct themes. The first emphasizes the role of institutions in affecting the dispersion of wages across occupational, age, skill, and industry and employment contract categories. The contributors make clear the profound effect that European institutions can have in influencing, and in most cases compressing, such pay differentials with consequent implications for the employment prospects of certain segments of the labor force. The second theme is the explanation for recent wage moderation in Europe. The contributions under this theme stress the role of developments in the bargaining systems of European countries and the presence of a number of temporary or specific factors, which have helped to bring about pay moderation. The final theme is the extent to which institutions are changing within Europe in the light of EMU and the adoption of new business practices.

This book will appeal to academics with an interest in labor markets and EMU issues, and also industrial relations specialists with an interest in institutional topics.

Customer Reviews:

A must read for couples!.......2006-12-09

This book provides excellent financial advice for couples, tackling issues every committed relationship will face- whether or not to get a prenuptial agreement, the pros and cons of having joint vs. separate accounts, legal, financial and emotional considerations around changing vs. not changing one's name, essential financial preparedness before starting a family, and what to do when illness or death strikes, to name a few. This book is well-written, insightful and humorous. The authors' candidly share some of their own trials and triumphs as a couple around money, which is refreshing and real. In addition to nuts-and-bolts financial information the authors give great suggestions on discussions you need to have with your partner around money and how to go about having them.

Couples' RX for Financial Security.......2000-09-24

I can't think of a better gift for young people about to wed. In simple, everyday terms, the book lays out a host of investment methods and strategies that have worked for the married co-authors whose syndicated column I read religiously. Especially light and interesting are the authors' cute asides about their own backgrounds, differences when it comes to handling money and how they resolve those differences. Included is a glossary of reference sources I find myself referring to from time to time. So far, my wife and I have given this book to two newlywed couples.

Couples' RX for Financial Security.......2000-09-24

Save your money.......2000-08-14

The best financial advice the authors could give you is to save your money and don't buy this book. Everything they write about is common sense. Each chapter is a redundant explanation of the fact that you should communicate with each other about money and financial issues. If you've bought this book, or are considering it you already know that. If you are looking for a book to give you some serious guidelines about how to handle your finances as a couple, this is not it.

Good Financial Information, Poor on Marriage.......2000-06-02

It is clear that the authors are financial planners and have little or no professional understanding of intimate relationships. Their financial advise is very, very sound and valuable. The points they make about money and cost of weddings are important for couple preparing to wed to know. However... The advise on conflict management and couple problem solving leave much to be desired. Research indicates that MONEY is the number of issue of conflict in couples. The author's advise is summerized in a box--"Don't argue about money." That is like asking a week old baby,not to cry. Conflict is going to happen. What counts is how you handle it so that it does not undermind the love and commitment that you have for one another. Read it for the advise on money--not intimate relationships.

Amazon.com

Questions of right and wrong quickly become obscured when social science invades the courtroom, writes James Q. Wilson, author of The Moral Sense and On Character. The justice system is now dangerously prone to the "abuse excuse," in which defendants deny personal responsibility for their crimes and instead blame outside forces for making them do their deeds (e.g. the Menendez brothers). As a result, trials can become duels between so-called expert witnesses who, like mercenaries, will offer their highly partisan services to any lawyer who can pay them. This slim volume (112 pages) provides a helpful overview to an important problem and offers constructive solutions for avoiding future debacles.

Customer Reviews:

"Social Science is to Explain; Courts are to Judge.".......2003-11-03

James Q. Wilson presents, yet again, a very interesting social science treatire on our current dillema in jurisprudence. It is important to note that Wilson is a neoconservative, and by that I mean he believes the state can cultivate certain attitudes, mores, beliefs, and behaviors in the population through a series of incentives that will guide the behavior of particular individuals. Thus, one of the most important things for a state is to provide incentives -- a clear, moral and legal code that will influence the behavior of the general population. Wilson argues, and to which I agree, that when the law is unpredictable, and the chance of escaping the laws' penalties are reduced or absent, crime will increased. This became true in Britain.

Now, to the larger point brought about in Wilson's book: social science is to explain; the law is to judge. The problem, Wilson argues, is that recently we have blended the two. While the general population wants us to clamp down on criminals, juries are providing quite leniant sentences. How is that possible? Rather than blame the juries, Wilson explains how this is possible.

The main reason is that our court system has moved away, although slowly, from an objective standard of law -- one in which the question is whether the defendent did (or did not) committ the crime, to one where we analyze the reasons, motivations, thoughts, ideologies present in the person who committed the law. By doing this, we encourage juries to be far more leniant--because instead of their judging the question: did he do it or not, they are trying to analyze all the information based on their own knowledge and "expert" testimony, and thus they rationalize lesser sentences based on their own prejudices. Thus, they substitute the objective law that actually exists for their own feelings. This may be well and good in the short term, Mr. Wilson argues, but what happens when the precedent for these kinds of decissions develops and we get verdicts like the first Menendez brothers trial, in which the jury was deadlocked, even though it was clear that both brothers had killed their parents in their sleep and were clearly not threatened at the time. What happens is right. Anyone who fails to read Mr. Wilson's book misses out on knowing where our current actions are taking us. And Wilson does provide many informative solutions to this problem, such as having court-appointed experts and judges explaining the facts in the case among other ideas!

BTW, I had the privilage of meeting James Q. Wilson, a recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was awarded to Mr. Wilson by President George W. Bush.

-- Michael Gordon

Useful Contribution.......2003-03-09

This is a good contribution to a usually muddled discussion. I think that even people, like myself, who disagree with most of Wilson's attitudes toward criminal justice should agree with most of what he says here.
Wilson favors a vocabulary of religion and traditional philosophy and displays a certain longing for English Victorian traditions. He has nothing to say, though the opportunity couldn't offer itself more starkly, of attempts that might be made, and made at less financial and human expense, to prevent crimes from occurring through non-punitive means like education, the
elimination of poverty, help for drug and alcohol abusers, attempts at reconciliation of disputes, banning handguns, improving pop-culture, etc. Wilson is not disturbed by America's extreme rate of incarceration, and slants his figures to minimize it. (For example, on p. 4 he says that Americans' belief that our courts are "more likely" than other nations' to excuse an offender and to moderate a penalty is "right" because an offender's chances of going to prison are "about the same" as in four other countries.) Wilson suggests that we may imprison so much because our crime rate is so high, and that our crime rates (in certain ways) may be so low because we imprison so much. Obviously an opposite case could be made with exactly equal plausibility: our crime rate is high despite or because of our culture of incarceration, and we incarcerate despite low crime rates (and because of factors like political cowardice and financial profit for prison companies).
Wilson favors the best science in court rooms, but takes for granted certain powers of deterrence for which there isn't any evidence of that quality. Wilson also speaks of "deterrence and retribution" without explaining the latter term at all. Wilson seems (bottom of page 4) to think that it is good to imprison based on a past record, though on pp. 90-91 he cites a study
showing that juries vary their sentences radically based on records, on psychological testimony, and on the likeableness of a person - things which Wilson, rightly, I think, complains are largely irrelevant. (Though I don't expect to hear him questioning the use of juries.)
Wilson also has relatively little to say about the horrors of our prisons as reported by many human rights groups. He describes inhumane punishment as a thing of the past. And he dwells little on the possibility that some acquittals that have been labeled cases of abuse-excuse may be jury nullification on the basis of disagreement with laws and/or punishments. In two instances Wilson does show that he is aware of the prevalence of this sort of thing (pp. 77, 110).
I am obviously coming at these matters from a different perspective than Wilson. But I agree with his main point and take it to be an important one. There is a difference between explaining the causes of a crime and dealing with that crime in a court of law. An explanation is not necessarily an excuse, and vice versa. I even think that Wilson is right in those cases
where some readers will, no doubt, call him sexist or racist. I do not think that past abuse of a wife justifies a wife's killing a sleeping husband. I think that treating a woman as helpless is precisely NOT feminism. I would even combine Wilson's dismissal of the alcohol excuse with his dismissal of the female excuse and say that, yes, on occasion drunk women willfully have
sex (though, of course, a drunk woman can also be raped).
That said, I think that Wilson could make his case a little better. The abuse-excuse is part and parcel of the same way of thinking that convicts criminals in America, a way of thinking from which Wilson does not attempt to escape. This thinking might be called anti-consequentialism. It is sentimental and backward-looking. It may lean toward vengeance or sympathy, but it does not aim at reducing crime and crime's damage in the future. It
does not take seriously goals of restitution, reconciliation, rehabilitation, protection, or even deterrence (which needs to be studied and at least guessed at, not just assumed). Wilson approves of some moderate degree of sympathy and vengeance, but not of what he sees as their extremes. This is different from treating them as irrelevant in a court of law and productive both of the excuses that bother Wilson and of the "Victims' Rights Movement" and its lynching speeches which bother some other people.
Wilson recognizes the conflict that most people believe exists between responsibility and determinism. He professes (and I've never seen an even remotely convincing argument for anything else) a belief that everything is caused. He then points out that if we excuse whatever is caused we will excuse everything. This, he says, is absurd, and therefore we shouldn't do
it. I agree with the conclusion, but am not sure the argument will convince everyone. For Wilson, anything that requires radical change is, for that reason, wrong. On pp. 60 and 100 he dismisses certain conclusions because to accept them would require rewriting a lot of laws and court decisions. Well, so what? Is that a good enough argument for people more open than Wilson is to change?
I think there is an argument for Wilson's position that will be more persuasive to people who, for example, would like to see our incarceration rate drastically cut. Wilson analyzes the problem well. He points out that juries often long for an explanation of how something came about. But he does not do enough to prove his point that such longings should, in many cases, be irrelevant. Wilson suggests admirable rewordings of legal distinctions. And he makes a strong case for holding people responsible for their delusions and misconceptions. But he doesn't make a clear enough case.
Wilson bases this last stance on the standard of what a "reasonable person" would do, rather than a "subjective" judgment. But he, himself, sometimes scare-quotes the notion of a "reasonable person."

Both you and the author are incorrect.......2002-10-18

An execution is the deliberate and methodical fulfillment of a planned series of actions meant to acheive a specific objective. No one, not a criminal nor a legally authorized servant of the State, can "execute" a human being. One can execute a legal order to carry out a sentence of death by whatever means. The other can execute an illegal imposition of his will.
A dictionary, indeed.
Next time, do try to review the book.
Or, failing that, pick nits with greater care lest you prove lice ridden yourself.

The book itself gave me little information of which I was previously unaware, but did serve to crystallize the issue and provide a few useful barbs to hurl in debate with the more Liberal folks I know.

Get a dictionary.......2000-01-03

I just started the book. I was disappointed to find this statement on the first page of acknowledgments...."two rich boys executed their parents for financial gain, and the criminal justice system could not convict them of what they surely deserved, first degree murder". An execution is a killing carried our as directed by a legal system. It is impossible for a person performing an execution to be convicted of murder. The Menendez parents were murdered. No amount of planning, deliberation, skill in doing the deed makes a killing an execution unless ordered by a legal court system. It is still murder no matter how "professionally done".

Outstanding, He hit the nail squarely on the head........1998-07-25

Mr. Wilson, has certainly identified some major problems in the criminal justice system. Having been involved in the criminal justice system myself for over 15 years I certainly can identify with what his says and he is right on point. Some other excellent books on this subject is: Judge Judy's book "Don't Pee On My Leg and Tell Me IT'S Raining". Ken Hamblin's "Pick a better Country" is another excellent book.

Moral Judgement: Does the Abuse Excuse Threaten Our Legal System? (book reviews): An article from: ETC.: A Review of General Semantics

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Moral Judgement: Does the Abuse Excuse Threaten Our Legal System? (book reviews): An article from: ETC.: A Review of General Semantics
Martin H. Levinson
Manufacturer: International Society for General Semantics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, published by International Society for General Semantics on March 22, 1998. The length of the article is 5321 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Moral Judgement: Does the Abuse Excuse Threaten Our Legal System? (book reviews)
Author: Martin H. Levinson
Publication: ETC.: A Review of General Semantics (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1998
Publisher: International Society for General Semantics
Volume: v55 Issue: n1 Page: p110(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

This book deals with agriculture and community resource management in mountains and dry tropical areas. It covers famine, food security, and agricultural sustainability in fragile areas, common property resources, traditional systems of resource management, and their decline under changed
circumstances.

Life on the Edge: Sustaining Agriculture and Community Resources in Fragile Environments (Studies in Social Ecology and Environmental History)

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Life on the Edge: Sustaining Agriculture and Community Resources in Fragile Environments (Studies in Social Ecology and Environmental History)
N. S. Jodha
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OL15LS

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Book Description

Clive Edwards and his distinguished panel of researchers bring together a collection of detailed molecular methods for the environmental monitoring of bacterial populations. These state-of-the-art methods include techniques for the recovery of cells, for the analysis of whole cells, and for the molecular study of target species and heterogeneous populations. Many of the methods enable bacteria to be monitored in their natural environments without culturing and specifically address the difficult problem that only a small proportion of bacteria in any ecosystem can be cultured by traditional microbiological methods. Environmental Monitoring of Bacteria takes full advantage of the exciting research in recent years that has challenged some long-held principles of traditional microbiology and gives timely and practical access to techniques that allow the study of bacterial ecology as communities, single cells, or at the molecular level.

Performance of aerobic treatment units: monitoring results from the Florida Keys.(FEATURES): An article from: Journal of Environmental Health

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Performance of aerobic treatment units: monitoring results from the Florida Keys.(FEATURES): An article from: Journal of Environmental Health
Eberhard Roeder , and William Brookman
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Aerobics | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000KQF5V8
Release Date: 2006-11-17

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Environmental Health, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2006. The length of the article is 4197 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: Aerobic treatment units (ATUs) are used to enhance or replace traditional septic-tank/drainfield onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems (OSTDS). The objective of the study reported here was to assess the performance of ATUs under real-life conditions. Monroe County Health Department personnel in the Florida Keys sampled two-thirds of approximately 1,200 ATU systems on record during 2000 and 2001. Grab samples were analyzed for five-day carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBO[D.sub.5]), total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP). Results showed a non-normally distributed wide range of concentrations from less than 1 to thousands of milligrams per liter. In about half of the grab samples, TSS exceeded 30 mg/L, and in a quarter, CBO[D.sub.5] exceeded 25 mg/L. Concentrations differed significantly (p < .05) by sampling point location, with CBO[D.sub.5] and TSS more affected than TN and TP. These results reflected significantly higher concentrations at sampling ports and additional treatment occurring in system components after treatment by the ATU. Differences by day of week and by month were also significant (p < .05), but time of day was not associated with significant differences. No significant improvement was found with newer ATUs over older ones. The high variability of ATUs and the low frequency of sampling pose a challenge to monitoring and enforcement programs.

Citation Details
Title: Performance of aerobic treatment units: monitoring results from the Florida Keys.(FEATURES)
Author: Eberhard Roeder
Publication: Journal of Environmental Health (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 69 Issue: 4 Page: 17(6)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Lower Nooksack River Basin bacteria total maximum daily load evaluation / Joe Joy (Washington State Department of Ecology, Environmental Assessment Program, Watershed Ecology Section) (Publication)

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Lower Nooksack River Basin bacteria total maximum daily load evaluation / Joe Joy (Washington State Department of Ecology, Environmental Assessment Program, Watershed Ecology Section) (Publication)
Joe Joy
Manufacturer: Washington State Dept. of Ecology
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Water | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006RBYF2

Using bacteria to monitor the influences of cattle wastes on water quality (Agricultural research results)

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Using bacteria to monitor the influences of cattle wastes on water quality (Agricultural research results)
S. H Kunkle
Manufacturer: Agricultural Research (Northeastern Region), Science and Education Administration, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Water | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00071X67Q

Book Description

Written by three leading experts in the field, this textbook describes and explains all aspects of the scanning probe microscopy. Emphasis is placed on the experimental design and procedures required to optimize the performance of the various methods. Scanning Probe Microscopy covers not only the physical principles behind scanning probe microscopy but also questions of instrumental designs, basic features of the different imaging modes, and recurring artifacts. The intention is to provide a general textbook for all types of classes that address scanning probe microscopy. Third year undergraduates and beyond should be able to use it for self-study or as textbook to accompany a course on probe microscopy. Furthermore, it will be valuable as reference book in any scanning probe microscopy laboratory. Novel applications and the latest important results are also presented, and the book closes with a look at the future prospects of scanning probe microscopy, also discussing related techniques in nanoscience. Ideally suited as an introduction for graduate students, the book will also serve as a valuable reference for practising researchers developing and using scanning probe techniques.

Customer Reviews:

Solid Background to SPM.......2007-01-05

Scanning Probe Microscopy: The Lab on a Tip by Ernst Meyer covers the two main techniques of SPM: STM and AFM (here called SFM). There is also a detailed section on Magnetic Force Microscopy(MFM). There are shorther sections on the less well known techniques, i.e. friction force microsocpy, SNOM, etc. The books covers the theory well, and is reasonably up to date as I write in 2007. The figures are clear, and the few microgrpahs presented in clear greyscale. There are relatively few applications, but these are easy to find elsewhere. Overall, a great book for the theory of SPM.

Customer Reviews:

HER KIND OF WANT leaves me wanting more!.......2003-03-17

Jennifer S. Davis' first book, "Her Kind Of Want" definitely deserved the Iowa Short Fiction Award; her writing is absolutely stunning. Although the stories in this book are not my usual 'reading fare,' (I prefer Austen, Gabaldon, Pilcher--something uplifting with happily ever after endings) I do make exceptions if the writing is extraordinary. I loved Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible" because of the beautiful writing (even though the story was quite sad). Both women have similar writing styles.
I read somewhere that a writer should write what she knows and Davis has written stories about women (albeit damaged) from her native Alabama. All the women are products of their dysfunctional families with the exception of Dena (who is a product of events surrounding her life).
Davis' writing is deep, rich, and poetic. Only a gifted author could have written the subtle differences in each woman's personality. I was enthralled with every story and the lovely and poignant way each was presented. The characters are so well developed that by the end of the book, I felt that I knew them personally. I could not put this book down! Jennifer Davis is a remarkable writer and I know we will see great things from her in the future (a Pulitzer?). I also hope her next book will be more uplifting. I love Southern Writers and am so glad I can add Jennifer to the top of my list!

Great from start to finish.......2002-12-04

I started reading this book one morning and didn't put it down until I finished it. As a true Southerner (born and raised in Alabama), I recognized many of the characters in the book. Jennifer Davis truly captured the essence of many Southern women in her characters. I found myself disappointed when the book came to an end. I am anxiously anticipating her next book and highly recommend Her Kind of Want.

Roll Down the Window and Crank Up the Radio.......2002-10-31

If the stories in Her Kind of Want were a song, I'd crank it up, roll down the windows, and light a Marlboro. These women, hailing from the University of Been There Done That, have a gorgeous resilience, an awkward gift for recognizing that their own yearnings somehow aren't justified by the world and probably never will be. Davis's prose is lyrical and swoony, the kind you like to read aloud and listen to...She also takes on the daunting task of deconstructing the redneck/southern female stereotype. "Rewriting Girl," the introduction, frames the rest of the collection, by inviting us to witness how girl/southern has been written (by men? by Sean the male protagonist?) and how
it will be (inevitably) up to Southern Women (capitalization intended) to re-write their own narratives-- secretly, subversively, cunningly and quietly-- in bars and backseats and with lovers who don't really get their mystery. I loved this book and highly recommend it. Davis's style is darkly Carson McCullers-ish but it has a sense of humor that is purely original and real. A real ...kicking collection. Poetry. One of the best books I've ever read.

Imagined Women.......2002-09-26

There are nine compelling stories in Her Kind of Want by Jennifer S. Davis. For the most part, Davis's characters are women trapped and betrayed by either their bodies or men or both.

In "Only Ends" Sissy is a 14-year-old whose best friend is 9 and whose Grandma tells her she's lucky that because of her bad brain she won't have to worry about men. In "Some Things Collide" Nadine is a woman alone with breast cancer. In "The One Thing God'll Give You" Hula's Momma warns her that "there ain't but one kind of man" and that is borne out by what happens when Hula starts dating Willie. Most of these stories are domestic tragedies, as depressing as a fat-fingered man with a wet toupee and a pinky ring drinking sugared iced tea and Jack Daniels while hitting on the 13-year-old next door. But they are also beautifully written.

Although the events of the story are as heart-wrenching as the events in the other stories, "Tammy Imagined" breaks from the pack in that it is written from a point in the future that implies hope. By its placement in the collection, "Tammy Imagined" highlights the complexity and dignity of the characters in previous stories. The collection as a whole is poignant and unforgettable.

Like Southern women writers before her, Davis writes colorfully with great attention to the telling detail. Her Kind of Want would fit in well on the shelf next to anything by Bobbie Ann Mason.

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