It is generally agreed that the operation of the labour market lies at
the heart of macroeconomic activity. Following Keynes' attack on the
postulates of the classics in The General Theory a number of labour
market paradigms have been proposed including the Phillips curve, new
classical and union bargaining models. These paradigms usually form the
centrepiece of any good text on macroeconomic theory. Our purpose in
this volume is not to restate these paradigms but to explore the extent
to which they might be empirically modelled. To this end the volume
includes a set of econometric models of the UK labour market where each
contribution relates very closely to one of the principal paradigms. The
purpose of this collection is threefold. First and foremost we wanted to
present an integrated set of case studies in applied econometrics with
reference to labour market modelling. In doing so we hope the volume
will appeal to third year undergraduates and postgraduate students
studying applied econometrics and labour economics. Secondly, the
contributions have been carefully selected to illustrate the main
paradigms since each contribution is intellectually self- contained. It
is arguable that this may be disadvantageous as far as the truth is
concerned if eclecticism is preferable. On the other hand it has
pedagogic advantages in drawing sharp distinctions between the various
approaches.