The handbook of economic and financial measures. - book reviews

Monthly Labor Review, Nov, 1984

The editors of this handbook seek to close an information gap they perceive between increasing sophistication of economic and financial reporting on the one hand and the lack of commonly understood definitions of economic and financial concepts on the other. They asked professionals from Government agencies, academia, and the private sector to define and explain 21 measures of economic and financial activity, from gross national product to consumer confidence and from monetary aggregates to interest rates.

Included in the volume are comprehensive discussions of "Unemployment and Associated Measures," by Commissioner of Labor Statistics Janet L. Norwood; "Measures of Recession and Expansion," by Geoffrey H. Moore, a former Commissioner of Labor Statistics, now at Columbia University; and of "Measures of Inflation," by Joel Popkin of Joel Popkin and Co., former assistant BLS commissioner in charge of price programs.

The book includes both subject and author indexes. Publications received Economic and social statistics

Ahrne, Goran and Erik Olin Wright, Classes in the United States and Sweden: A Comparison, Reprinted from Acta Sociologica, Vol. 26, Nos. 3-4, 1983, pp. 211-35. Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin, Institute for Research on Poverty, 1984. (IRP) Reprint Series, 483.)

Lazear, Edward P., Raids and Offer-Matching. Cambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., 1984, 37 pp. (NBER Working Paper Series, 1419.) $1.50, paper.

Menchik, Paul L. and Martin David, Income Distribution, Lifetime Savings, and Bequests. Reprinted from the American Economic Review, September 1983, pp. 672-90. Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin, Institute for Research on Poverty, 1984. (IRP Series, 480.)

Moffitt, Robert, An Economic Model of Welfare Stigma. Reprinted from the American Economic Review, December 1983, pp. 1023-35. Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin, Institute for Research on Poverty, 1984. (IRP Reprint Series, 482.)

Sorensen, Aage B., Processes of Allocation to Open and Closed Positions in Social Structure. Reprinted from Zeitschrift fur Soziologie, July 1983, pp. 203-24. Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin, Institute for Research on Poverty, 1984. (IRP Series, 485.)

Vetter, Betty M. and Eleanor L. Babco, Professional Women and Minorities: A Manpower Data Resource Service. 5th ed. Washington, Scientific Manpower Commission, 1984, 280 pp. $70, paper.

Zarozny, Sharon and Monica Horner, The Federal Data Base Finder. Potomac, MD, Information USA, Inc., 1984, 368 pp. $95. Economic growth and development

Austen, A. D. and R. H. Neale, eds., Managing Construction Projects: A Guide to Processes and Procedures. Geneva, International Labour Organization, 1984, 158 pp., bibliography. Available in the United States from the Washington Branch of ILO.

Frisch, Helmut, Theories of Inflation. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1983, 262 pp., bibliography. $39.50, cloth; $12.50, paper.

Meier, Gerald M., Emerging From Poverty: The Economics That Really Matters. New York, Oxford University Press, 1984, 258 pp. $29.95. Education

National Academy of Sciences, High Schools and the Changing Workplace: The Employers' View. Washington, National Academy of Sciences, 1984, 50 pp. $5.25, single copy, paper, National Academy Press, Washington 20418.

National Education Association, Today's Education, 1984-85 Annual Edition, The Journal of the National Education Association. Washington, 1984, 184 pp.

Weiss, Andrew, Testing the Sorting Model of Education. Cambridge, MA, National Burea of Economic Research. Inc., 1984, 51 pp. (NBER Working Paper Series, 1420.) $1.50. Health and safety

Christoffel, Tom, "Using Roadblocks to Reduce Drunk Driving: Public Health or Law and Order?" American Journal of Public Health, September 1984, pp. 1028-30.

Torrens, Ian M., "What Goes Up Must Come Down: The Acid Rain Problem," The OECD Observer, July 1984, pp. 9-15.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Evaluating Your Firm's Injury and Illness Record: 1982, Manufacturing Industries. Prepared by Ilma Rosskopf. Washington, 1984, 29 pp. (Report 706.) Industrial relations

Aboud, Antone, ed., Plant Closing Legislation. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, 1984, 60 pp. (key Issues, 27).) $6, ILR Press, Ithaca, NY.

Briggs, Steven, The Municipal Grievance Process. Los Angeles, CA, University of California, Institute of Industrial Relations, 1984, 185 pp., bibliography. (Monograph and Research Series, 36.)

Bussey, Ellen M., ed., Federal Civil Service Law and Procedures: A Basic Guide. Washington, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., 1984, 348 pp. $25, BNA Books, Distribution Center, 9435 Key West Avenue, Rockville, MD, 20850-3397.

Clarke, Oliver, "Collective Bargaining and the Economic Recovery," The OECD Observer, July 1984, pp. 19-22.

Ferman, Luis A., ed., The Future of American Unionism: "Trade Unionism from Roosevelt to Reagan," by Jack Barbash; "The Future Demographics of American Unionism," by Markley Roberts; "Collective Bargaining: The Next Twenty Years," by Doris B. McLaughlin in consultation with Douglas A. Fraser; "Labor and Politics in the 1980s," by Charles M. Rehmus; "The Future of American Unionism: A Comparative Perspective," by Everett M. Kassalow; "The Changing of the Guard: The New American Labor Leader," by Arthur R. Schwartz and Michele M. Hoyman; "Labor-Management Cooperation in American Communities: Whaths In It for the Unions?" by Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld; "Work Place Democracy and Quality of Work Life: Problems and Prospects," by Hy Kornbluh; "Union Organizing: New Challenges and Prospects," by Alan Kistler, "Changing Concepts of Worker Rights in the Work Place," by Theodore J. St. Antoine; "The Changing Work Place," by Sar A. Levitan and Clifford M. Johnson; "Employee Ownership and the Future of Unions," by William Foote Whyte and Joseph R. Blasi; "New Directions for American Unionism," by Rudy Oswald; "Trade Unions and Productivity; Some New Evidence on an Old Issue," by Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff; "A Look Ahead at Public Employee Unionism," by James L. Stern; "Will the New Industrial Relations Last? Implications for the American Labor Movement," by Thomas A. Kochan and Michael J. Piore, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, May 1984, p. 11-189.