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Discusses the transfer of undertakings in the UK, referring to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations of 1981, the Employment Rights Act 1996, and the Acquired Rights Directive 1977. Provides the raison d’etre of the Acquired Rights Directive and outlines how it was implemented in the UK. Talks about the confusing jurisprudence of the European and British courts, mentioning the European Court of Justice’s challenges to the directive, the 1994 proposals, amended 1997 proposals, the Commission’s memorandum of 1997 and the UK government’s consultation papers. Describes how the European Directive is applied and interpreted in relation to the Acquired Rights Directive and transfer of undertakings. Outlines the regulations controlling compulsory competitive tendering. Points out the obligation to inform and consult on the transfer of an undertaking and how the directive is enforced if this fails to occur. Notes the effect a relevant transfer has on existing collective agreements and the legal implications of dismissing employees by reason of the relevant transfer. Looks at the European Commission’s proposal for a directive on safeguarding employees’ rights in the event of transfer and the implications that would have on UK business. Concludes that a new directive is needed, building on the 1977 Directive but ironing out its inconsistencies.

This paper proposes the use of a gauge function as a measure of technical efficiency. The measure of technical inefficiency from a gauge function is desirable as the estimation of a gauge function is not subject to the endogeneity problem under the behavioral assumption of profit maximization in the competitive market.

The authors address three important properties of a gauge function, i.e. linear homogeneity, monotonicity and convexity in inputs and outputs, and show how such properties are utilized in its estimation. Then, the authors apply the estimation of a gauge function to US Blacksmiths in 1850 and 1880 to show that a failure to satisfy such properties may lead to an incorrect inference on the technical efficiency.

The authors find that the Blacksmiths in the 1850s were technically more efficient than the ones in the 1880s, indicating technical regress in Blacksmithing when the properties are satisfied.

This paper introduces a measure of technical inefficiency from a gauge function and shows how to estimate the gauge function parametrically for the measure. The authors show McFadden's gauge function and its properties, which differ from the properties of other distance functions. The authors emphasize linear homogeneity as well as monotonicity and convexity in inputs and outputs, which must be satisfied in the estimation of a gauge function.

Few librarians think of U.S. documents as a source for professional reading, growth, and information, yet several agencies of the government are involved with library programs, services, and research. This bibliography is a compilation of some of the most recent documents about libraries published by these agencies. It is an eclectic group, ranging from scholarly research studies to descriptions of model programs. Most of these studies are known only to a small segment of the library profession and have not received wide distribution in the field. The quality of the documents is quite good, particularly the research reports being done out of the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) Library Programs Office. Much of the information contained in the surveys and research reports is not available in any other form.

This paper aims to examine the dynamic return and volatility connectedness for six major industrial metals (tin, lead, nickel, zinc, copper and aluminium) and the coronavirus media coverage index (MCI).

To that purpose, this study applies the fresh time-varying parameter vector autoregression methodology (TVP–VAR model) during the sample period between 2 January, 2020, and 16 April, 2021, that is, covering the three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

This study’s results show interesting findings. First, dynamic total return and volatility connectedness changes over time, highlighting a significant increase during the third wave of the pandemic. Second, the MCI index is a leading net transmitter in terms of return and volatility at the introduction of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus crisis. Third, this study clearly distinguishes two profiles among industrial metals: copper and tin/zinc as net transmitters and lead and aluminium as net receivers. Finally, the most relevant differences between them are concentrated not only at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (first wave) but also during the second and third waves of the coronavirus outbreak.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research that explores the dynamic return and volatility connectedness in the industrial metal market, applying the TVP–VAR methodology during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

This compilation of over 500 United States Government bibliographies is the second annual supplement to BIBLIOGRAPHY OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1968–1973 (Pierian Press). Due to the Government Printing Office backlog during 1974, many 1973 and 1974 titles are included in this 1975 Supplement, which should have appeared earlier.

This paper aims to evaluate the performance of basic metals industry in India and analyze its determinants, using data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. It also intends to compare the results through conventional two-stage and bootstrap-based inferences.

Considering technical efficiency as a measure of performance, this paper specifically investigates whether the participation of a firm in the global market affects its performance. The conventional two-stage procedure is used to test the export intensity and firm performance nexus. The bootstrap-based algorithms (by Simar and Wilson, 2007) are used to correct the bias and serial correlation issues involved in the conventional approach.

The result shows a negative relation between export intensity and firm performance while following the conventional procedure. Even after accounting for serial correlation, the relation remains more or less similar to that of conventional analysis. However, a strong negative relation between export intensity and firm performance is not observed in a more reliable inference obtained after correcting for possible bias as well as serial correlation.

This paper is based on cross-sectional analysis, and a more reliable result can be obtained by considering a larger sample and longer period.

This paper shows how the conventional two-stage procedure may result in misleading inferences due to bias in the estimation of efficiency scores and the serial correlation during the second stage inferential analysis. This paper also empirically exemplifies how the double bootstrap DEA procedure can overcome these limitations of the conventional two-stage approach.

Outlines social dialogue by providing a definition and background to its introduction and covers its progress to date. Critically examines the social dialogue resulting in the European collective agreement, the instrument for implementing directives. Concludes with the Collective agreement’s place in formulating European Law. Suggests the integration of the Maastricht Treaty into the body of the Treaty of Amsterdam forms a basis for solid advances in social policy.

Jointings for use in the fuel, oil or water systems of civil aircraft must be of an approved type. Ultimately, such jointings will be required to conform to a Civil Specification which is now in course of preparation. In the meantime, a list of the various types of jointings at present approved is given below.

The materials included in this column were selected on the basis of an item by item review of all government publications received at a major depository library. Emphasis is placed on tools of a reference format, although much else that the Federal government publishes is otherwise of high referral value. Publications not in a reference format, in the strictest sense, are included when their potential value dictates; brief entries for “how to” items and informative pamphlets are also given if deemed potentially useful, particularly for school and public libraries and wherever the identification of vertical file materials is the responsibility of the public service librarian.

The materials included in this column were selected on the basis of an item by item review of all government publications received at a major depository library. Emphasis is placed on tools of a reference format, although much else that the Federal government publishes is otherwise of high referral value. Publications not in a reference format, in the strictest sense, are included when their potential value dictates; brief entries for “how to” items and informative pamphlets are also given if deemed potentially useful, particularly for school and public libraries and wherever the identification of vertical file materials is the responsibility of the public service librarian. Documents librarian's shorthand has been used in the bibliographical citations. Wherever possible, “United States” has been understood rather than stated in the corporate entries; also, the GPO imprint and place have been dropped. All items unless otherwise indicated are available from the Superintendent of Documents at the prices given. Prices which do not appear were not available at the date of review.