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Robert A. Hart

University of Stirling, UK, and IZA, Germany

The IZA World of Labor offers an impressive vehicle for imparting, to a wide interest group, important labor market developments and ideas in theory, empirical investigation, and policy

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Stirling, UK

Research interest

Labor market economics, labor costs, working time, human capital, business cycle fluctuations, economics of education, British engineering labor market between 1920 and 1970

Website

http://bit.ly/Hart_IZApage

Past positions

Professor of Economics, University of Stirling, 1986–2014; Senior Research Fellow, Science Center, Berlin, 1980–1986

Qualifications

MA Economics, University of Liverpool, 1969

Selected publications

  • "Real wage cyclicality and the Great Depression: Evidence from British engineering and metal working firms." Oxford Economic Papers 65:2 (2013): 197–218 (with J. E. Roberts).

  • "Forced to be rich? Returns to compulsory schooling in Britain." Economic Journal 120:549 (2010): 1345–1364 (with P. J. Devereux).

  • “Real wage cyclicality of job stayers, within-company job movers, and between-company job movers.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 60 (2006): 105–119 (with P. J. Devereux).

  • The Economics of Overtime Working. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

  • Human Capital, Employment and Bargaining. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995 (with T. Moutos).

article(s)

  • Hours vs employment in response to demand shocks

    Evaluating the labor market effects of temporary aggregate demand shocks requires analyzing both employment and hours of work

    Robert A. Hart, October 2017
    Labor market responses to temporary aggregate demand shocks are commonly analyzed and discussed in terms of changes in employment and unemployment. However, it can be seriously misleading to ignore the interrelated behavior of hours worked. Work hours can be altered relatively speedily and flexibly, and this strongly relates to employment, labor productivity, and unemployment outcomes. The hours–employment distinction is especially important in the evaluation of the performances of European labor markets during the negative shock experienced during the Great Recession.
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  • The rise and fall of piecework

    Incidence of piecework has significantly reduced in advanced industrialized economies—has its decline gone too far?

    Robert A. Hart, April 2016
    A pieceworker receives a fixed rate for each unit (“piece”) produced or action performed. In part, the rate reflects a cost of monitoring output. A timeworker receives a fixed wage rate per hour that, in the short term, does not vary with output performance. From the 18th century up to the last third of the 20th century these were the two dominant payment methods in the manufacturing and production industries. Yet, today the incidence of piecework in advanced economies is very small, having lost considerable ground to time rates and to other forms of incentive pay. What caused this transformation, and has the movement away from piecework gone too far?
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