Journal article

Measuring Worker Protection Using Leximetrics: Illustrating a New Approach in Four Asia-Pacific Countries

Petra Mahy, Richard Mitchell, Carolyn Sutherland, Peter Gahan, Anthony O’Donnell, Sean Cooney, Gordon Anderson, Lingfeng Mao, Andrew Stewart

The American Journal of Comparative Law | Oxford University Press (OUP) | Published : 2019

Abstract

This Article introduces the Worker Protection Index (WPI), a new measure for quantitative cross-national comparison of the strength of worker protection provided by law. After presenting an overview and critique of existing labor regulation indices, the Article outlines the conceptual and methodological innovations used in order to develop the WPI. The WPI is wider in scope than many other comparable indices and arguably is more sensitive to variance in labor regulation systems around the world. We then briefly present some initial coding results for Australia, China, Indonesia, and New Zealand, illustrating the impact of our innovations by contrasting these findings with the Cambridge Centr..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

Dr. Petra Mahy, Professor Richard Mitchell, and Professor Carolyn Sutherland are in the Department of Business Law and Taxation, Monash University. Professor Peter Gahan is in the Department of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne. Mr. Anthony O'Donnell is in the Law School at La Trobe University. Professor Sean Cooney is in Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. Professor Gordon Anderson is in the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington. Dr. Lingfeng Mao received his Ph.D. from the Department of Business Law and Taxation, Monash University. Professor Andrew Stewart is the John Bray Professor of Law at the University of Adelaide. This Article is part of a broader project, which was originally funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant (DP1095060). The authors thank the anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments on an earlier version of the Article.