Bargaining for Productivity: Comparative Report

Productivity growth was at the heart of the economic development in the Afterwar period – the so called ‘trentes glorieuses’. These years were characterised by a strong coordination of labour markets, collective agreements that were mainly set at the sectoral level and wage constraint. At this time, the most relevant objectives were a strong competitive economy, a hard currency, low inflation and full employment. It seems that this glorious era has come to an end. Many EU and non-EU countries, such as the UK and the USA, have experienced a labour productivity stagnation or slowdown over the last decade. Academics, policy makers and business leaders are concerned to reverse this trend since “productivity is the ultimate engine of growth in the global economy” (OECD 2015). As the working population is projected to decline with the ageing population, labour productivity growth becomes the sole source for potential average output growth in both the EU and the euro area starting from 2028 (European Commission, 2012). This projection includes both the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of growth. Directly linked to productivity stagnation is the issue of inequality and, precisely, wage inequality (Keune, Tomassetti 2016). There is mounting evidence that “increasing inequality may be one of the causes of declining growth, as inequality both impedes improvements in productivity and weakens demand. Low growth, in turn, reinforces inequality by intensifying distributional conflict” (Streeck 2014, 37). Inequality is also likely to increase even more in the years ahead as a consequence of the impact of Industry 4.0 and the digital evolution of the economy on labour markets and societies (Blasi et al 2013; Etui 2016). On the brink of a new extraordinary age of change – i.e. the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (Shwab 2016) –, many scholars still disagree over what current technological innovations imply for the future of work and employment relations (Katz et al. 2015). Along with opportunities, new challenges appear in different forms than previous waves of technological change: hybridization between humans and robots; dematerialisation of boundaries between industries; working and doing business anytime, anywhere; labour market polarisation; marginal cost reduction and productivity slowdown. These factors are compounded by an increasingly diverse workforce where tensions exists between inclusion and diversity, impacting on employment relations. There is consensus that investments in technological innovation, research and skills are key drivers for labour productivity. It is also clear that – beside these factors – work organisation plays an important role in enhancing labour productivity and making growth sustainable. Productivity figures (GDP/GVA per hour worked and GDP/GVA per capita) are linked to the output of production and the input of labour. Collective bargaining and other aspects of labour and employment relations play a major role in these figures. Dialogue on productivity issues is important both in terms of consensual labour-management cooperation and as a regulator of wages and conditions of work. Coordination of collective bargaining has a positive impact on economic performance, because it impedes wage competition and enforces companies to increase productivity in order to being able to pay the given wages. At the company level, productivity agreements can result in innovation and enhance performance through compensation and benefits, working time flexibility, Work-life Balance, skills improvements and workers involvement. Furthermore, collective bargaining, especially firm-level bargaining, has always been conceived as a means both to facilitate and react to technological changes. This project is set against a background of institutionalist research which investigates the role of central institutions and actors in the setting and maintenance of employment relations. Drawing on key theories such as regulatory space, varieties of capitalism, regulation theory and coordination theory this research places the productivity bargaining in a theoretical arena to understand the role of productivity bargaining and the coordination of collective bargaining across key European countries. Against this background, this report aims to shed light on the reasons behind labour productivity slowdown or weak growth in some countries, by focusing on the role that employment relations plays behind such a trend. Our goal is to analyse the potential and effective implication of collective bargaining and employment relations on labour productivity, as well as to analyse public policies and social partners’ attitude towards labour productivity in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK A note of caution is, however, needed because the relationship between employment relations and the input of labour is at best complex and, if worse, dubious. While the connotation of high productivity and hard work is a very basic one, the actual relationship is likely to be much more complex with influence from smarter working, new technology and research and development investment. Therefore, when comparing figures of productivity GDP growth between countries and sectors, such complexities should be kept in mind. The ‘productivity paradox’ furthermore points to the question to what extent productivity growth gives an accurate figure of productivity as such. The quality of production output may not be taken into account accurately and services that are for free, like some of the services with ICT, do not count to productivity but may still add to prosperity

Simplified methodologies for assessing the out-of-plane two-way bending seismic response of unreinforced brick masonry walls: lessons from recent experimental studies

This paper describes a simplified methodology for the assessment of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls under out-of-plane two-way bending seismic action. The methodology involves a force-based check derived from the principle of virtual work. This check is proposed based on experimental observations of significant cracking resistance associated with two-way spanning URM walls, indicating methodologies considering such walls to be pre-cracked or to be non-laterally supported as overly conservative. The methodology incorporates several findings and developments from recent experimental campaigns: ranging from novel characterization tests on masonry couplets to incremental dynamic tests on full-scale buildings. Such incorporations include new formulation to calculate the torsional shear strength of a bed joint and accounting for possible changes in the boundary conditions of an OOP wall during dynamic loading. Testing standards as well as recommendations in several international guidelines for masonry structures addressing the input properties required to implement the proposed methodology are enlisted and reviewed. The methodology requires the definition of the period of vibration of the assessed URM walls, to calculate which plate theory based formulation is provided. Open research questions and potential avenues for further development of the methodology are ultimately highlighted

Unsegmented long-term time-dependent modeling of the Nankai subduction zone (Japan)

The authors have recently presented a harmonized framework that unifies state-of-the-art methodologies for relaxing fault segmentation assumptions, including time-dependent earthquake occurrence and accounting for fault interaction. This framework has so far only been applied to shallow crustal faults, which are the typical focus of recent advancements in fault-based probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). The methodological study presented in this paper is a first attempt to extend this framework to a subduction zone. The case study presented herein concerns the 900-km long Nankai subduction zone in South Japan. This work highlights several challenges with implementing the considered framework to subduction zones, emphasizing possible future research efforts that could improve the results presented in this study. In particular, it is concluded that (1) down-dip discretization of subduction zones should be used along with the along-strike discretization currently used for shallow crustal faults; (2) further research is needed to develop a standard physically-motivated approach to generate viable ruptures for subduction zones; (3) plate convergence rate and interplate coupling coefficients (i.e., heterogeneity of the coupling ratio defined as the slip rate divided by the plate convergence rate) should be explored and explicitly accounted for as part of the epistemic uncertainty in the hazard assessment; (4) 2D functions describing the shape of the average single-event slip should be developed

EFFECT OF AN INNOVATIVE ISOLATION SYSTEM ON THE SEISMIC RESPONSE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE BUILDING CONTENTS

An experimental study was conducted at the University of Pavia and at the EUCENTRE Foundation (Pavia, Italy) to assess the effectiveness of an innovative seismic isolation device at protecting cultural heritage building contents. The recently patented isolator, named “Kinematic Steel Joint (KSJ)”, is based on a multiple articulated quadrilateral mechanism and is entirely made of steel components obtained by simply cutting, folding, and pinning metal sheets, eventually employing stainless steel to limit corrosion issues. The trajectory imposed by the KSJ isolator to the supported mass combines horizontal with increasing vertical displacements, resulting in a pendulum-type motion with self-centering behavior. The friction developing within the pinned joints can be exploited to grant energy dissipation capacity to the device. The KSJ isolator can be manufactured with different sizes, payloads, and displacement ranges. In fact, seismic isolation can be applied at a global building level as an integrated system or as a retrofit solution in new or existing construction, respectively, or at a local scale as a passive protection technique for non-structural components. Despite their undeniable effectiveness in reducing the seismic accelerations transmitted to the isolated structure and to its content, currently available isolation devices may add significantly to the construction cost of buildings, and may require particular maintenance to preserve a stable performance over time. The proposed KSJ solution will allow for a reduction in manufacturing and maintenance burdens compared to established technologies. This paper discusses the main results of a shake-table test conducted at the EUCENTRE Foundation laboratories on an assembly with four prototypes of the KSJ device. The experimental setup included a 19-t rigid mass supported by the isolators, simulating the building superstructure, and four marble blocks installed above the rigid mass, representing non-structural rocking components such as parapets, pinnacles, statues, or other architectural ornaments. Moreover, a museum showcase with a small-scale replica of Michelangelo’s David was mounted above the rigid block, while two clay vases completed the setup, to encompass additional cultural heritage features. Accelerometers and potentiometers were deployed at several locations to monitor the kinematic response of the individual isolators, as well as their effect on the dynamic response of the rigid mass and of the different non-structural elements. The experiment was conducted first with the KSJ devices allowed to displace freely, then after fastening the rigid mass to the shake-table through post-tensioning rods, following the same incremental dynamic test sequence. This allowed comparing the response of the non-structural components with and without seismic isolation, to better understand the effect of the proposed isolation devices on the overall test assembly and on each sub-component

Isotopic Composition of Light Nuclei in Cosmic Rays: Results from AMS-01

The variety of isotopes in cosmic rays allows us to study different aspects of the processes that cosmic rays undergo between the time they are produced and the time of their arrival in the heliosphere. In this paper we present measurements of the isotopic ratios 2H/4He, 3He/4He, 6Li/7Li, 7Be/(9Be+10Be) and 10B/11B in the range 0.2-1.4 GeV of kinetic energy per nucleon. The measurements are based on the data collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, AMS-01, during the STS-91 flight in 1998 June.Comment: To appear in ApJ. 12 pages, 11 figures, 6 table

Observation of two new Ξb−\Xi_b^- baryon resonances

Two structures are observed close to the kinematic threshold in the $\Xi_b^0 \pi^-$ mass spectrum in a sample of proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the LHCb experiment. In the quark model, two baryonic resonances with quark content $bds$ are expected in this mass region: the spin-parity $J^P = \frac{1}{2}^+$ and $J^P=\frac{3}{2}^+$ states, denoted $\Xi_b^{\prime -}$ and $\Xi_b^{*-}$. Interpreting the structures as these resonances, we measure the mass differences and the width of the heavier state to be $m(\Xi_b^{\prime -}) - m(\Xi_b^0) - m(\pi^{-}) = 3.653 \pm 0.018 \pm 0.006$ MeV$/c^2$, $m(\Xi_b^{*-}) - m(\Xi_b^0) - m(\pi^{-}) = 23.96 \pm 0.12 \pm 0.06$ MeV$/c^2$, $\Gamma(\Xi_b^{*-}) = 1.65 \pm 0.31 \pm 0.10$ MeV, where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The width of the lighter state is consistent with zero, and we place an upper limit of $\Gamma(\Xi_b^{\prime -}) < 0.08$ MeV at 95% confidence level. Relative production rates of these states are also reported.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

Quantum numbers of the X(3872)X(3872) state and orbital angular momentum in its ρ0Jψ\rho^0 J\psi decay

Angular correlations in $B^+\to X(3872) K^+$ decays, with $X(3872)\to \rho^0 J/\psi$, $\rho^0\to\pi^+\pi^-$ and $J/\psi \to\mu^+\mu^-$, are used to measure orbital angular momentum contributions and to determine the $J^{PC}$ value of the $X(3872)$ meson. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector. This determination, for the first time performed without assuming a value for the orbital angular momentum, confirms the quantum numbers to be $J^{PC}=1^{++}$. The $X(3872)$ is found to decay predominantly through S wave and an upper limit of $4\%$ at $95\%$ C.L. is set on the fraction of D wave.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Study of B−→DK−π+π−B^{-}\to DK^-\pi^+\pi^- and B−→Dπ−π+π−B^-\to D\pi^-\pi^+\pi^- decays and determination of the CKM angle γ\gamma

We report a study of the suppressed $B^-\to DK^-\pi^+\pi^-$ and favored $B^-\to D\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ decays, where the neutral $D$ meson is detected through its decays to the $K^{\mp}\pi^{\pm}$ and CP-even $K^+K^-$ and $\pi^+\pi^-$ final states. The measurement is carried out using a proton-proton collision data sample collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0~fb$^{-1}$. We observe the first significant signals in the CP-even final states of the $D$ meson for both the suppressed $B^-\to DK^-\pi^+\pi^-$ and favored $B^-\to D\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ modes, as well as in the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed $D\to K^+\pi^-$ final state of the $B^-\to D\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ decay. Evidence for the ADS suppressed decay $B^{-}\to DK^-\pi^+\pi^-$, with $D\to K^+\pi^-$, is also presented. From the observed yields in the $B^-\to DK^-\pi^+\pi^-$, $B^-\to D\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ and their charge conjugate decay modes, we measure the value of the weak phase to be $\gamma=(74^{+20}_{-19})^{\rm o}$. This is one of the most precise single-measurement determinations of $\gamma$ to date.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures; All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-020.htm

Observation of J/ψpJ/\psi p resonances consistent with pentaquark states in Λb0→J/ψK−p{\Lambda_b^0\to J/\psi K^-p} decays

Observations of exotic structures in the $J/\psi p$ channel, that we refer to as pentaquark-charmonium states, in $\Lambda_b^0\to J/\psi K^- p$ decays are presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3/fb acquired with the LHCb detector from 7 and 8 TeV pp collisions. An amplitude analysis is performed on the three-body final-state that reproduces the two-body mass and angular distributions. To obtain a satisfactory fit of the structures seen in the $J/\psi p$ mass spectrum, it is necessary to include two Breit-Wigner amplitudes that each describe a resonant state. The significance of each of these resonances is more than 9 standard deviations. One has a mass of $4380\pm 8\pm 29$ MeV and a width of $205\pm 18\pm 86$ MeV, while the second is narrower, with a mass of $4449.8\pm 1.7\pm 2.5$ MeV and a width of $39\pm 5\pm 19$ MeV. The preferred $J^P$ assignments are of opposite parity, with one state having spin 3/2 and the other 5/2.Comment: 48 pages, 18 figures including the supplementary material, v2 after referee's comments, now 19 figure

Study of WW boson production in association with beauty and charm

The associated production of a $W$ boson with a jet originating from either a light parton or heavy-flavor quark is studied in the forward region using proton-proton collisions. The analysis uses data corresponding to integrated luminosities of 1.0 and $2.0\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$ collected with the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, respectively. The $W$ bosons are reconstructed using the $W\to\mu\nu$ decay and muons with a transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, larger than 20 GeV in the pseudorapidity range $2.0 20$ GeV and $2.2 < \eta < 4.2$. The sum of the muon and jet momenta must satisfy $p_{\rm T} > 20$ GeV. The fraction of $W+$jet events that originate from beauty and charm quarks is measured, along with the charge asymmetries of the $W\!+\!b$ and $W\!+\!c$ production cross-sections. The ratio of the $W+$jet to $Z+$jet production cross-sections is also measured using the $Z\to\mu\mu$ decay. All results are in agreement with Standard Model predictions