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

即使在当前的经济崩溃之前，始于20世纪70年代末的裁员浪潮就已经席卷了美国企业界，侵蚀了工人们对经济安全的期望。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，公司会临时裁员，以在经济低迷时期调整员工规模。自70年代末以来，公司越来越多地裁员，无论是在好的时候还是在坏的时候，都没有任何打算重新雇用工人。本文的研究考察了推动这一新的裁员的机制：它分析了裁员公告和已宣布的裁员计划的实际执行情况。联合PI将审查1980年至2007年期间700多家美国大公司的公告，以及公告后有关劳动力规模和构成的详细信息，这些信息来自各机构提交给平等就业机会委员会的年度报告。目前的研究结果表明，在新的裁员中起作用的是意识形态的转变，从强调公司增长和集团，转向强调盈利能力和股东价值，这种意识形态既反映并强化了股东和金融部门总体上对公司行为的越来越大的影响力。这项研究通过关注裁员背后的机制，而不是像大多数经济学研究所做的那样，研究了裁员对公司业绩的影响，从而推动了现有关于企业裁员的文献。通过分析裁员的宣布和实施，这项研究能够检查两者之间的差异，这是研究其中一项或另一项无法做到的。作为更广泛的含义，这项研究谈到了金融体系崩溃后公众对金融体系与就业之间关系的新担忧。通过阐明当前形势和金融部门影响就业的机制的历史先河，并通过经验评估影响的程度，这项研究有助于为当前关于监管金融部门的激烈讨论奠定合理的基础。

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.