CHANGES IN WORK AS SEEN BY AN ECONOMIST - REGULATIONS, CONTRACTS OR INSTITUTIONS

Defined as the interrelation between, on the one hand, work, its conte nt, organization and conditions and, on the other, the labor force, it s qualifications, training and management, the ''system of work'' has undergone a crisis over the last two decades. To what extent can theor ies of regulation and contractualization account for the changes that have occurred? The concepts developed by these theories restrict them to, respectively, macro- and microeconomics. Combining these two appro aches also raises problems. The suggestion is made to heed, instead, A merican institutionalist economists. In their program of research, inf ormal and formal institutions can be linked when analyzing the wage-ea rning relationship and changes in it.