R. Layard - Böcker

Richard Layard is one of Britain's foremost applied economists, whose work has had a profound impact on the policy debate in Britain and abroad. Inequality argues that lifetime inequality is the basic inequality we should worry about.

This is a collection of articles on education, equality and income distribution, and on the lessons of economic transition in Eastern Europe. The author's main argument is that lifetime inequality is the basic inequality we should worry about. In this context, education is a powerful instrument of redistribution, as well as a national investment. The final series of essays in this volume is based on Layard's work on reform strategies in Russia and Poland. There is also a companion volume, "Tackling Unemployment".

The Handbook brings together a systematic review of the research topics, empirical findings, and methods that comprise modern labor economics. It serves as an introduction to what has been done in this field, while at the same time indicating possible future trends which will be important in both spheres of public and private decision-making.Part I is concerned with the classic topics of labor supply and demand, the size and nature of the elasticities between the two, and their impact on the wage structure. This analysis touches on two fundamental questions: what are the sources of income inequality, and what are the disincentive effects of attempts to produce a more equal income distribution ?The papers in Part II proceed from the common observation that the dissimilarity in worker skills and employer demands often tempers the outcomes that would be expected in frictionless labor markets. And the last section of the Handbook deals explicitly with the role of institutional structures (e.g. trade unions) that now form an important part of modern labor economics.For more information on the Handbooks in Economics series, please see our home page on http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/hes