Flexibility and security: an asymmetrical relationship?
Information about AIAS
AIAS is an interdisciplinary institute, established in 1998, aiming to become the leading expert
centre in the Netherlands for research on industrial relations, organisation of work, wage formation
and labour market inequalities. As a network organisation, AIAS brings together high-level expertise
at the University of Amsterdam from five disciplines:
• Law
• Economics
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Health and safety studies
AIAS provides both teaching and research. On the teaching side it offers a Masters in Compara-
tive Labour and Organisation Studies and one in Human Resource Management. In addition, it or-
ganizes special courses in co-operation with other organisations such as the Netherlands Centre for
Social Innovation (NCSI), the Netherlands Institute for Small and Medium-sized Companies (MKB-
Nederland), the National Centre for Industrial Relations ‘De Burcht’, the National Institute for Co-
determination (GBIO), and the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’. AIAS
has an extensive research programme (2004-2008) on Institutions, Inequalities and Internationalisa-
tion, building on the research performed by its member scholars. Current research themes effectively
include:
• Wage formation, social policy and industrial relations
• The cycles of policy learning and mimicking in labour market reforms in Europe
• The distribution of responsibility between the state and the market in social security
• The wage-indicator and world-wide comparison of employment conditions
• The projects of the LoWER network
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