In this article the authors utilise leximetric analysis, which involves the numerical coding of the strength of formal legal protections, to document changes in the level of worker protection and shareholder protection in six countries (Australia, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States) for the period 1970-2005. Both worker and shareholder protection increased in five of the six countries and in the sixth country (Australia) shareholder protection increased and the level of worker protection in 2005 was similar to the level of protection in 1970. The results of statistical tests show that increased formal legal protection for shareholders is not obtained at the expense of formal protection for workers. Implications of this finding are explored by the authors.

Generally speaking there has been a relative dearth of serious scholarship focusing on the evolution of Indian labour law in its economic, social, and political contexts. Such work as there is tends to be constituted of fragmented and short journal articles and notes, including those by labour economists and industrial relations scholars. The present work undertakes a survey of the literature in the field, examining first the various periods through which Indian labour law has evolved up to the present time, and second the extent to which the labour law system can be seen to have fulfilled its two core objectives: the protection of labour and the maintenance of industrial peace. The survey reveals that Indian “labour law” in the formal sense has very little purchase in terms of its application in pursuit of its objects. This, in turn, suggests that some other approach is required to reach a more grounded and accurate understanding of how, and to what effect, labour is regulated in India.

The purpose of this Article is to contribute to provide a historical account of the evolution of labor law in three countries: India, Indonesia, and China.' Our founding question is how do we understand, or how do we explain, the evolution of labor law in these countries, and what does this understanding add to the present discourse? In particular, what do our studies tell us about the prominent issue of "legal origins" (i.e., the extent to which the labor market systems in India, Indonesia, and China have been characterized by the regulatory style of the systems from which their labor laws were initially drawn); and the extent to which the labor law systems of those countries been shaped under the influence of international pressures?

A major question for the comparative analysis of industrial relations and labor market institutions has been the extent to which labor laws in different countries have converged or diverged over time. A second question is whether any convergence between labor law systems is associated with economic globalization. Using a new measure of the “protective strength” of a country’s labor market regulation (the Longitudinal Labor Regulation Index), this study compares the evolution of labor laws in six countries (Australia, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States) for the period 1970 to 2005. We assess whether there has been a convergence in the protective strength of labor market regulation between these countries or ongoing divergences between them. In particular, we test whether there is evidence of “formal” or “functional” convergence, “weak” or “strong” convergence, “simple” or “bipolar” convergence, and whether convergence is associated with globalization and economic integration between the countries included in our study. Our analyses show that over the period from 1970 to the mid-1980s the protective strength of labor laws actually diverged, but began to converge thereafter. Although we find evidence of both formal and functional convergence during this later period, this propensity has been weak, and tended toward a pattern of “bipolar convergence.” At the same time, the data do not indicate that any of these processes of convergence were associated with an “Americanization” of labor law, or a race to the bottom.

In this research note, the authors use leximetric analysis, which involves the numerical coding of the strength of legal protections, to document changes in the level of investor (shareholder and creditor) protection and worker protection in Australia for the period 1970-2010. For worker protection, the level of protection in 2010 was similar to the level of protection in 1970, with two abrupt increases and declines. In contrast, investor protection has increased over the 40 years. The statistical analysis of the data indicates that increased protection for investors is not obtained at the expense of protection for workers. Implications of this finding are explored by the authors.

This article utilises leximetric analysis, which involves the numerical coding of the strength of legal protections, to show changes in levels of shareholder and creditor protection in Australia for the period 1970 to 2010. This form of analysis, originally developed by La Porta et al, and subsequently used by many scholars in different legal fields, allows for the production of graphs which illustrate changes to the law, reducing complexities and allowing for comparisons of shareholder and creditor protection. The data show levels of shareholder protection have increased, most notably against actions of the board of directors rather than against other shareholders. In contrast, levels of creditor protection have been relatively stable. The article explores how and why these developments in shareholder and creditor protection have occurred. The research also identifies that for most of the 40-year period of study, there was a positive correlation between shareholder and creditor protection. However, this is no longer the case for recent years and possible explanations for this finding are identified.

How relevant are human resource (HR) practices in economies undergoing significant economic transition from a command to a market-based system? Using data drawn from a large sample of Chinese establishments, the authors investigate the spread of a range of Western-style HR practices in China and estimate the relationship between the adoption of these practices and three organizational outcomes: sales per employee, total labor costs, and unit labor costs. They find a mixed result for the relationships between labor management practices and establishment productivity. While the introduction of a number of HR practices was also associated with significantly higher labor costs, the results indicate a more mixed result for the relationship between these practices and unit labor costs. Their findings further the understanding of the relationship between work practices and organizational outcomes, and they help clarify the effects of the changing economic context on HR management in China.

This article is part of a larger international investigation of the effects of a country's legal origins on the style of business regulation. We employ an innovative ‘leximetric’ methodology to numerically code the protective strength of Australian corporate law for both shareholder and creditor protection for the period 1970 to 2010. This leximetric methodology has been used in a prominent international debate concerning the development of legal rules and the effects of different styles of regulation on a range of economic outcomes—the legal origins debate. Drawing on similar data compiled by Armour, Deakin, Lele and Siems in five other countries (France, Germany, India, the UK and the US) for the period 1970 to 2005, we compare changes in the level of protection afforded to Australian shareholders and creditors with developments in other countries. Our analysis finds that in Australia there was a sustained upward trend in shareholder protection, but not in the case of creditor protection. Compared to the five other countries, the level of protection afforded to shareholders under Australian law was relatively high, and this was the case for the level of protection afforded to creditors as well. We also examine the extent of convergence and divergence in shareholder and creditor protection among the countries in the study. We find persistent divergence in shareholder protection, with the extent of divergence in 2005 similar to that in 1970. For creditor protection, we find increasing divergence among the countries over the period of study. Our findings are not supportive of legal origins theory.

Collective bargaining and agreement-making has been an established part of Australia's arbitral model of industrial relations since its inception. Although the significance of bargaining and agreement-making has varied considerably over the course of the twentieth century and across different sectors, it nonetheless remained a secondary component of the formal system of wage determination until the 1980s. From the mid-1980s, however, new wage-fixing principles and legislative changes have paved the way for enterprise bargaining as the primary mechanism through which wages and conditions of employment have been determined, evolving towards a predominance of enterprise-level collective agreements. The aim of this paper is to describe the major institutional reforms intended to promote enterprise bargaining and to review the major trends in agreement-making over the course of the last twenty years in particular. The data show that, while enterprise-level agreement-making has become an entrenched feature of the Australian system, it is not at all clear that it has involved the spread of collective bargaining as the term is normally understood.

An emerging body of literature has highlighted a gap in our understanding of the extent to which the salience attached to human rights is likely to influence the extent to which an individual takes account of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in decision making. The primary aim of this study is to begin to address this gap by understanding how individuals attribute different emphasis on specific aspects of human rights when making decisions to purchase, work, invest or support the community operations for socially responsible organisations. In order to achieve this objective, a survey instrument was administered to professionals in Russia and Bulgaria. Our data indicate that there is a significant correlation between individuals’ sensitivity towards different components of human rights and their perceptions of the importance of CSR in decision making. Specifically, the recognition of political rights was strongly associated with the willingness to purchase, invest, seek employment and support socially responsible firms. Our analysis also outlines significant differences between the Russian and the Bulgarian samples with regard to the manners in which individuals rate the importance of civil, political and economic human rights.