Economic and social regulation of labour

The course provides a conceptual and analytical framework for understanding the main trends and problems affecting the regulation of labour in a context of intensified economic internationalisation. The course is divided in three parts: the first introduces the basic concepts for the analysis of employment relations and their regulation (the theory and context of employment relations; the actors; the way in which they interact and the outcomes they produce); the second part introduces some key issues currently debated in employment relations research (the problem of global labour governance and the emergence of a new field of labour regulation at the international level, the relationship between labour market institutions, firms' behaviour and inequality, the digitalisation of work and its impact on employment relations and their regulation); the third part addresses the impact of labour market institutions on economic performance, especially in the framework of the EU and the EMU and with particular attention to the shift from a Keynesian to a monetarist macro-economic regime.

Students will acquire knowledge and develop in-depth understanding of the systems of employment relations, the challenges they are exposed to and their current transformations, as well as the effects of these changes on patterns of labour market inequalities and economic performance.
Students will learn how to critically apply such knowledge to the analysis of recent developments in labour and employment relations in Europe, but attention will be paid also to such countries as the US, Japan and Australia.
Students will acquire the ability to use the specific terminology of employment relations research and to critically examine employment relations issues.