Ian Greer | Cornell University (original) (raw)
Books by Ian Greer
Across Europe, market mechanisms are spreading into areas where they did not exist before. In pub... more Across Europe, market mechanisms are spreading into areas where they did not exist before. In public administration, market governance is displacing other ways of coordinating public services. In social policy, the welfare state is retreating from its historic task of protecting citizens from the discipline of the market. In industrial relations, labor and management are negotiating with an eye to competitiveness, often against new non-union market players.
What is marketization, and what are its effects? This book uses employment services in Denmark, Germany, and Great Britain as a window to explore the rise of market mechanisms. Based on more than 100 interviews with funders, managers, front-line workers, and others, the authors discuss the internal workings of these markets and the organizations that provide the services.
This book gives readers new tools to analyse market competition and its effects. It provides a new conceptualization of the markets themselves, the dilemmas and tradeoffs that they generate, and the differing services and workplaces that result. It is aimed at students and researchers in the applied fields of social policy, public administration, and employment relations and has important implications for comparative political economy and welfare states.
Papers by Ian Greer
Oxford Scholarship Online
Denmark, Germany, and Britain have marketized their employment services in different ways. This c... more Denmark, Germany, and Britain have marketized their employment services in different ways. This chapter introduces the tasks involved in moving jobless people into, or closer to, paid work (assessment, advice, training, job placement, and the organization of make-work schemes). In Denmark New Public Management and municipalization trends have combined to produce dramatic fluctuations in the volume of work and the rules of the market; marketization has proceeded in three waves since 2005. In Germany, there are diverse market segments reflecting the persistence of three different transaction modes in the wake of the Hartz reforms; marketization was implemented in 2002–5. In Britain, a series of privatization experiments led to the creation of a highly concentrated, centralized, and uncompetitive market, with several multinational firms managing the bulk of the market as Work Programme prime contractors; this market structure was created in 2008–11.
Despite the presence of hyper-mobile migrant workers in the European Union, there is very little ... more Despite the presence of hyper-mobile migrant workers in the European Union, there is very little research on transnational union organizing efforts. This paper examines the European Migrant Workers Union (EMWU), which signalled a shift by the German union Industriegewerkschaft Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG BAU) in its approach to migrant workers away from national protectionism and toward transnational organizing. The EMWU, however, failed to thrive as an organization, primarily because of decisions by other unions to reject the transnational approach and instead to defend existing jurisdictions. We argue that this inaction constitutes a setback for union reassertion of control over markets and for bringing industrial citizenship to Europe's hyper-mobile workers.
This paper develops a framework for analyzing marketization, defined as the imposition or intensi... more This paper develops a framework for analyzing marketization, defined as the imposition or intensification of competition. The conceptual background is debates in comparative employment relations over the liberalization of markets and its consequences across Europe. Our central proposition is that marketization in its diverse forms leads to increased economic and social inequality via its effects on non-market institutions. We propose two mechanisms through which this happens. First, the means used by economic elites to seek influence shifts from voice to exit, leading to the disorganization of non-market institutions of industrial relations and welfare provision. Second, economic activity shifts away from productive activities, leading to re-regulation that is insulated from public scrutiny.
Drafts by Ian Greer
Report to the Hans Boeckler Foundation, 2018
Online platforms have disrupted parts of the capitalist economy, with allegedly severe consequenc... more Online platforms have disrupted parts of the capitalist economy, with allegedly severe consequences in the world of work. It is difficult to assess the potential magnitude of this effect, however, because little is known about the conditions under which platforms take over any given market, industry or occupation. This study examines live music in Germany and the UK, where online platforms do not dominate, despite considerable digitalization of market intermediaries. We argue that the live music market frustrates online platforms because (1) assessments of value are qualitative; (2) the task is complex and contingent; and (3) the organizational field is fragmented. Digitalization has varying effects on the organization of work and exchange relationships between musicians, intermediaries and clients. We find that, as the degree of digitalization increases, matching services tend to work less as a workers' representative-which is traditionally the case for live music agents– and more as a force of marketization that disciplines workers by orchestrating price-based competition. 2
Across Europe, market mechanisms are spreading into areas where they did not exist before. In pub... more Across Europe, market mechanisms are spreading into areas where they did not exist before. In public administration, market governance is displacing other ways of coordinating public services. In social policy, the welfare state is retreating from its historic task of protecting citizens from the discipline of the market. In industrial relations, labor and management are negotiating with an eye to competitiveness, often against new non-union market players.
What is marketization, and what are its effects? This book uses employment services in Denmark, Germany, and Great Britain as a window to explore the rise of market mechanisms. Based on more than 100 interviews with funders, managers, front-line workers, and others, the authors discuss the internal workings of these markets and the organizations that provide the services.
This book gives readers new tools to analyse market competition and its effects. It provides a new conceptualization of the markets themselves, the dilemmas and tradeoffs that they generate, and the differing services and workplaces that result. It is aimed at students and researchers in the applied fields of social policy, public administration, and employment relations and has important implications for comparative political economy and welfare states.
Oxford Scholarship Online
Denmark, Germany, and Britain have marketized their employment services in different ways. This c... more Denmark, Germany, and Britain have marketized their employment services in different ways. This chapter introduces the tasks involved in moving jobless people into, or closer to, paid work (assessment, advice, training, job placement, and the organization of make-work schemes). In Denmark New Public Management and municipalization trends have combined to produce dramatic fluctuations in the volume of work and the rules of the market; marketization has proceeded in three waves since 2005. In Germany, there are diverse market segments reflecting the persistence of three different transaction modes in the wake of the Hartz reforms; marketization was implemented in 2002–5. In Britain, a series of privatization experiments led to the creation of a highly concentrated, centralized, and uncompetitive market, with several multinational firms managing the bulk of the market as Work Programme prime contractors; this market structure was created in 2008–11.
Despite the presence of hyper-mobile migrant workers in the European Union, there is very little ... more Despite the presence of hyper-mobile migrant workers in the European Union, there is very little research on transnational union organizing efforts. This paper examines the European Migrant Workers Union (EMWU), which signalled a shift by the German union Industriegewerkschaft Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG BAU) in its approach to migrant workers away from national protectionism and toward transnational organizing. The EMWU, however, failed to thrive as an organization, primarily because of decisions by other unions to reject the transnational approach and instead to defend existing jurisdictions. We argue that this inaction constitutes a setback for union reassertion of control over markets and for bringing industrial citizenship to Europe's hyper-mobile workers.
This paper develops a framework for analyzing marketization, defined as the imposition or intensi... more This paper develops a framework for analyzing marketization, defined as the imposition or intensification of competition. The conceptual background is debates in comparative employment relations over the liberalization of markets and its consequences across Europe. Our central proposition is that marketization in its diverse forms leads to increased economic and social inequality via its effects on non-market institutions. We propose two mechanisms through which this happens. First, the means used by economic elites to seek influence shifts from voice to exit, leading to the disorganization of non-market institutions of industrial relations and welfare provision. Second, economic activity shifts away from productive activities, leading to re-regulation that is insulated from public scrutiny.
Report to the Hans Boeckler Foundation, 2018
Online platforms have disrupted parts of the capitalist economy, with allegedly severe consequenc... more Online platforms have disrupted parts of the capitalist economy, with allegedly severe consequences in the world of work. It is difficult to assess the potential magnitude of this effect, however, because little is known about the conditions under which platforms take over any given market, industry or occupation. This study examines live music in Germany and the UK, where online platforms do not dominate, despite considerable digitalization of market intermediaries. We argue that the live music market frustrates online platforms because (1) assessments of value are qualitative; (2) the task is complex and contingent; and (3) the organizational field is fragmented. Digitalization has varying effects on the organization of work and exchange relationships between musicians, intermediaries and clients. We find that, as the degree of digitalization increases, matching services tend to work less as a workers' representative-which is traditionally the case for live music agents– and more as a force of marketization that disciplines workers by orchestrating price-based competition. 2