Within the Westminster Development Policy Network, we have a cluster of researchers with an interest in globalisation and the labour flexibilisation pressures it entails. Our current areas of work span a number of geographical areas and economic sectors.
Economies in Transition: Uzbekistan and its nascent Gig Economy
In this project, Karen Jackson, Boidurjo Rick Mukhopadhyay and Serena Masino take a closer look at the emerging gig economy in Uzbekistan and contextualise this within the country’s ongoing economic transition. The research project aims to uncover recent trends and future prospects connected with economic globalisation and labour flexibilisation in Uzbeskistand but also in Central Asia more broadly.
Unbalanced Governance and Workers’ Adverse Incorporation: A Multi-Scalar Analysis of the Ghanaian Construction Sector
In this project, Serena Masino and her co-authors Mavis Akuffobea-Essilfie and Nadia von Jacobi explore the dynamics leading to adverse incorporation outcomes for workers in the rapidly globalising Ghanaian construction sector. Adverse incorporation refers to those instances in which workers benefit from inclusion into global production networks, for example through the creation of employment; at the same time, their vulnerability is increased by the precarious conditions attached to that employment.
The project relies on a large primary dataset containing information on institutional and civil society respondents as well as skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled workers and company managers. It covers both the real estate and civil and commercial infrastructure sectors and it combines qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis. Through this data, the project hopes to provide evidence on the process underlying the governance of labour standards in the Ghanaian construction sector.
Working Papers and Publications
Mukhopadhyay, B. and Chatwin, C., ‘Your Driver is DiDi and Minutes Away from Your Pick-up Point’: Understanding Employee Motivation in the Gig Economy of China. International Journal of Development and Emerging Economies, 8 (1): 1-17 full article
Masino, S. von Jacobi, N. and Akuffobea-Essilfie, M. (2021) ‘Unbalanaced Governance and Workers’ Adverse Incorporation: A Multi-scalar Analysis of the Ghanaian Construction Sector’.
Media Coverage
Mukhopadhyay, B., Covid-19 and the Gig Economy: Hope Springs Eternal, 17th July 2020
westminsterdpn.com 