Inside the Firm

• Key contributions from eminent economist Edward Lazear whose pioneering work in personnel economics has influenced modern labor economics
• Winner of the IZA Prize in Labour Economics 2004
• Original section Introductions complement the classic papers
• Combines empirical and theoretical research

Readership: Academics, students, labor economists, and officials interested in labor economics, business management, human resources, and employment.

Edward P. Lazear, Jack Steele Parker Professor of Human Resources Management and Economics, Graduate School of Business and Morris A. Cox Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Professor Lazear taught previously at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, where he was the Brown Professor of Urban and Labor Economics. Lazear served as Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and was at the White House from 2006 to 2009. Founding Editor of the Journal of Labor Economics, Lazear is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Econometric Society, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the former President of the Society of Labor Economists. Professor Lazear has written extensively on labor markets and personnel issues. He has over 100 published articles and eleven books. His book Personnel Economics (MIT Press, 1995) received the Melamed Prize in 1998. In June 2006, Lazear was awarded the Jacob Mincer Prize given by the Society of Labor Economics for lifetime contributions to the field.

I: Introduction by the Editors: Edward P. Lazear: A Founding Father of Personnel Economics
II: What Is Personnel Economics?
III: Explaining Labor Institutions in Business
Introduction
1: Why Is There Mandatory Retirement?
2: Pensions as Severance Pay
3: Job Security Provisions and Employment
4: An Economic Analysis of Works Councils
5: The Peter Principle: A Theory of Decline
IV Compensation Structures
Introduction
6: Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts
7: Salaries and Piece Rates
8: Performance Pay and Productivity
9: The Job as a Concept
V Social Interactions and Personnel Economics
Introduction
10: Peer Pressure and Partnerships
11: Pay Equality and Industrial Politics
12: Culture and Language
VI: Skill Acquisition and Personnel Economics
Introduction
13: Firm-Specific Human Capital: A Skill-Weights Approach
14: Educational Production
15: Speeding, Terrorism, and Teaching to the Test
16: Entrepreneurship
VII: Personnel Economics - The Past and Future