"Labour, Globalisation and The New Economy" - rldwl

Workshop 2 - New Forms of Economic Activities
Chairman: Gian Primo Cella
The aim of this work group is to discuss and to analyse how some emerging forms of economic activities
diverge from the canonical categories of market and state intervention, for some aspects pointing out the
persisting validity of the well known Polanyian model of the three forms of exchange (reciprocity,
redistribution, market). We refer for instance to the growth of third (non profit) sector in the production of
goods and services (even financial) both in the North and in the South of the world, in order to support the
creation of new jobs and to improve the quality of services and goods, as well as working conditions in a
framework of sustainable development.
Besides, we are also witnessing that even within the market, new ways of organising the economic activities
are blurring the boundaries between the "world of make" and the "world of buy" (as sketched in the seminal
work of Coase in the 1930s). This is the typical situation created through the widespread practices of
outsourcing, contracting-out, and partnership agreements. Something similar is also happening in connection
with the increasing relevance of atypical or non standard work, since it allows the possibility for companies
to use "autonomous" workers inside their own hierarchical structure, avoiding the transaction costs involved
by contract definition.
Finally, it is often misleading to consider the privatisation process boomed in the two latest decades as a
simple, inevitable and due transition from the state to the market (as usually maintained by the neo-liberist
ideology). In fact, it is rather a process of creation of new forms of regulation, which remain mid-way
between state intervention and market. This is the case, for example, of the privatisation and liberalisation of
public utilities.
All of these three configurations emphasize the importance of institutions, as well as the role of social
networks in the organization of economic activities and often have a regional dimension.
In this work group we expect papers discussing case studies and relevant experiences in different economic
environments but also papers on theoretical issues
Programme
Francesca Degiuli, University of California at
Santa Barbara: The Development of Temporary
Work in Italy (tent.)
Manfred Fuchs, University of Graz/Austria: The
Polarization and Differentiation of Employment
and the Use of Idiosyncratic Knowledge
Roy Green, University of Galway, Ireland:
Structural Reform, Industry Policy and Labour
Markets in Europe
Zemfira Kalugina, Russia: Entrepreneurship as a
New Form of Economic Activities in the Russian
Countryside
Julia M. Rozanova, Gorbatchev Foundation,
Moscow/Russia: Big Russian Corporations:
Sharing the Responsibility for Social
Development and Participation in Social Policy
Pascale Peters (University of Utrecht), Kea
Tijdens (University of Amsterdam), Cécile
Wetzels (TNO, all The Netherlands): Factors in
Employees’ Telecommuting Opportunities,
Preferences and Practices.
Roberto Pedersini, University of Milano/Italy:
Privatisation: Limits and Paradoxes of Changing
Regulation Regimes
Cali Nuur, National Institute of Working Life,
Sweden: An Explanatory Case Study of Call
Centers Firms in Ljusdal
Jochen Tholen, University of Bremen/Germany:
Knowledge and Networks of Young Self-
Employed in Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine.
Cultural and Social Capital as a Basis for
Economic Capital
Richard Harris, California State University,
Monterey Bay/USA: The National and Global
Effects of the California Energy Crisis and the
Enron debacle
Diego Coletto, Italy: An Example of Atypical
Economic Activity: Door to Door Sellers in Brazil
Gian Primo Cella
Università degli Studi di Milano
Dipartimento di Sociologia
Via del Conservatorio, 7
I-20122 Milano
Fax +39 02 58358840
gianprimo.cella@unimi.it
8 - 14 May 2002