Dangerous Work

In 1880 a young medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle embarked upon the “first real outstanding adventure” of his life, taking a berth as ship’s surgeon on an Arctic whaler, the Hope. The voyage to

This book describes working conditions in informal-sector shoe production in Indonesia and the Philippines, their gender dimensions, and national and international policy implications. The use of orga

In this book the author examines and ultimately rejects the conventional economic view that workers who have more dangerous jobs accept their risks voluntarily and are compensated through higher wages. In doing so, he attacks widely used techniques for assigning a monetary value to human life for cost-benefit analysis and other purposes. Arguments are drawn from the history of occupational safety and health, econometric analysis of wage and risk data, and formal models of the labour market. In place of the conventional view, Peter Dorman proposes a view based on new work in decision theory (thick rationality) and the theory of repeated games. These insights are combined with comparative policy analysis to support an approach to risk that promotes both regulatory effectiveness and democratic values. Despite its technical content, the book is written in highly accessible style, and is concerned with matters of general interest in the development of critical social science.

In this book the author examines and ultimately rejects the conventional economic view that workers who have more dangerous jobs accept their risks voluntarily and are compensated through higher wages. In doing so, he attacks widely used techniques for assigning a monetary value to human life for cost-benefit analysis and other purposes. Arguments are drawn from the history of occupational safety and health, econometric analysis of wage and risk data, and formal models of the labour market. In place of the conventional view, Peter Dorman proposes a view based on new work in decision theory (thick rationality) and the theory of repeated games. These insights are combined with comparative policy analysis to support an approach to risk that promotes both regulatory effectiveness and democratic values. Despite its technical content, the book is written in highly accessible style, and is concerned with matters of general interest in the development of critical social science.

The story of the cattle barons has often overshadowed the experiences of the common cowboy on whose labor the ranchers’ wealth was built. Malcolm McLeod (1870-1944) recorded the life of privation and

Global competitive pressures and a relentless drive for productivity and profitability improvement are features of virtually all modern organisations. Staying in front requires a faster and smarter pe

"Our voices scrubbed out and forgotten. There are those who research and write about sex workers who often forget we are human."– Amy Lebovitch Canadian cities are striving for high safety ratings by

Popular representations of third-world sex workers as sex slaves and vectors of HIV have spawned abolitionist legal reforms that are harmful and ineffective, and public health initiatives that provide

Revealing interviews with 40 fearless workers that will appeal to fans of Studs Terkel and TV's Deadliest Catch.