Doctoral Dissertation Research: Shareholder Value and the New American Workplace: Investor-Driven Downsizing, 1980-2007)

即使在当前的经济危机之前，从20世纪70年代末开始的裁员浪潮已经席卷了美国企业界，削弱了工人对经济安全的期望。 但在此期间，裁员不仅变得更加普遍，而且其基本性质也发生了变化。 以前，企业会临时裁员，以在经济低迷时期调整员工规模。 自上世纪70年代末以来，无论经济形势好坏，企业都在不断裁员，而且没有任何重新招聘员工的意图。 本论文的研究探讨了这种新的裁员机制：它分析了裁员公告和实际执行宣布裁员计划。 联合PI将审查1980年至2007年期间700多家美国大型公司的公告，以及从企业提交给平等就业机会委员会的年度报告中获得的有关劳动力规模和组成的详细公告后信息。 目前的研究结果表明，在新的裁员工作是一个转变的意识形态，从一个强调企业的增长和集团化，以盈利能力和股东价值的重视，一种意识形态，既反映和加强股东和金融部门的影响力增加，一般对公司的行为。 该研究通过关注裁员背后的机制，而不是其对公司业绩的影响（大多数经济研究已经完成），推进了现有的文献。 通过分析裁员的宣布和实施，研究能够检查两者之间的差异，在某种程度上，研究集中在一个或另一个不能。 作为一个更广泛的含义，这项研究谈到了新的公众关注，金融体系崩溃后，该系统和就业之间的关系。 本研究通过对金融业影响就业的前史和机制的揭示，并对影响程度进行实证评估，为当前关于金融业监管的热烈讨论奠定了理性基础。

SES-0926934Frank DobbinJiwook JungHarvard UniversityEven before the current economic meltdown, waves of downsizing, starting in the late 1970s, had swept corporate America, eroding workers' expectations of economic security. But not only did downsizing become more prevalent during this period; its basic nature changed. Previously, firms had cut jobs temporarily, to adjust the size of their workforce during a downturn. Since the late 70s, firms have increasingly cut jobs in both good and bad times, and without any intention of hiring workers back. This dissertation research examines the mechanisms driving this new downsizing: it analyzes both downsizing announcements and actual implementation of the announced downsizing plans. The co-PI will examine announcements from more than 700 large U.S. corporations between 1980 and 2007, and detailed post-announcement information about workforce size and composition, obtained from the annual reports that establishments submit to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Current findings show that at work in the new downsizing is a shift in ideology, from an emphasis on corporate growth and conglomeration to an emphasis on profitability and shareholder value, an ideology that both reflects and intensifies an increased influence of shareholders and the financial sector generally on firm behavior. The research advances the existing literature on corporate downsizing by focusing on the mechanisms behind downsizing, rather than its impact on corporate performance (as most economic studies have done). By analyzing both announcement and implementation of downsizing, the research is able to examine discrepancies between the two, in a way that studies focusing one on or the other cannot. As a broader implication, the research speaks to the new public concern, after the financial system meltdown, about the relationship between that system and employment. By elucidating the pre-history of the current situation and the mechanisms by which the financial sector influences employment, and assessing the magnitude of the influence empirically, the research helps lay a rational groundwork for the current heated discussions about regulating the financial sector.