In the Summer 2005 edition of CentrePiece:

In this edition:

Management practices: the impact on company performance

There are wide and persistent differences in productivity across firms and countries. A new CEP study - conducted jointly with McKinsey & Company - uses a pioneering approach to measure management practices and assess th... Read more...

Trade unions: resurgence or demise?

Trade unions have been in decline in Britain for 25 years. A new book edited by Sue Fernie and David Metcalf - and featuring contributions from most leading analysts of the labour movement - takes a generally pessimistic... Read more...

In brief... Circling the wagons: unions' part in their own decline

The conventional explanation of union decline in Britain tends to stress the impact of outside forces. Manufacturing employment collapsed and there was massive membership loss. Unemployment rose. Hostile legislation impa... Read more...

In brief... Public service unions: challenges of the reform agenda

The government's 'modernisation' agenda for the public services has put considerable pressure on unions in the sector, giving them the dual challenges of articulating a coherent national policy response and ensuring effe... Read more...

In brief... Unions in Germany: better placed than their British counterparts?

Like British unions, unions in Germany face the serious problem of crumbling membership. Union membership peaked in 1981 and has fallen ever since. Union density too has fallen with less than a quarter of German employee... Read more...

In brief... From the Webbs to the web: a new union form?

An inappropriate pessimism dominates discussions of the future of unions. Yes, union density is falling in the private sector and union influence is falling in Britain and many other countries. And, yes, the finances of ... Read more...

In brief... Performance pay for teachers: is it working?

The introduction of performance-related pay in England's schools has had a generally bad press. But David Marsden and Richard Belfield find that it is starting to have a positive impact both on school management and pupi... Read more...

Children of the revolution

New research by Eric Maurin and Sandra McNally reveals that France's short-lived 'revolution' of May 1968 had long-term benefits for the angry students - and later for their children. These findings have important implic... Read more...

Location, location, location

How important is access to markets as a driver of economic prosperity? In new research, Stephen Redding and Daniel Sturm address this question by analysing the post-war division of Germany and its impact on the border ci... Read more...

Small isn't beautiful: the cost disadvantages of small remote economies

Small remote economies like Anguilla and Vanuatu face huge competitive challenges, not least the higher costs of doing business. L Alan Winters and Pedro Martins measure the size of their cost disadvantages and explore p... Read more...