S E L E C T E D R E F E R E N C E S INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SECTION PRINCETON UNIVERSITY No. 318 Princeton, NJ 08544 July 2014 * International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) are given to facilitate ordering from vendors or other purchasing outlets. This issue plus earlier ones can be found in PDF format at http://www.irs.princeton.edu/publications/ selected-references. NOTEWORTHY BOOKS IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND LABOR ECONOMICS, 2013* The Industrial Relations Section is pleased to announce that this year’s winner of the William G Bowen Award is The great escape: health, wealth, and the origins of inequality by Angus Deaton. The winner of the Richard A. Lester Award is No more invisible man: race and gender in men’s work by Adia Harvey Wingfield. Berkowitz, Edward D. and Larry DeWitt. The other welfare: supplemental security income and U.S. social policy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. 279 p. Cloth, $45.00. ISBN: 978-0-8014-5173-7 Using a wide range of sources, Berkowitz and DeWitt present the history of the Supple- mental Security Income (SSI) program. They examine its creation, the effect of the public debates over the definition of “disabled,” early attempts at reform, and the effect of the 1996 welfare reform on the program. With the support of the Nixon administration, which chose cash grants over the social services created by the Democrats, SSI consoli- dated existing aid to the elderly, blind, and totally disabled at the federal rather than the state and local levels, though administrative variations at the state level complicated its implementation. Political compromises and incremental changes led to a lack of clear direction for SSI, the inclusion of coverage for controversial beneficiaries (noncitizens, substance abusers, and children), and a host of exceptions from the calculation of in- come. The authors conclude that, as frequently happens with social policy, “the pro- gram’s history illustrated how yesterday’s solutions become today’s problems.” (p. 242) Cooney, Sean, Sarah Biddulph, and Ying Zhu. Law and fair work in China. Abingdon, Oxon [U.K.]; New York: Routledge, 2013. 189 p. Cloth, $145.00. ISBN: 978-0-415- 67407-2; paper, $48.95. ISBN: 978-1-138-81567-4 Cooney, Biddulph, and Zhu provide a more nuanced picture of labor standards in China than has previously been depicted. They examine the structure of Chinese labor laws and regulations, the conditions they address, how they affect different classes of workers, and whether they are enforced through institutions or extra-legal means. Re- flecting the influence of the International Labour Organization, Chinese laws regard- ing wages and working time are not unlike those of other countries, though with local adaptations. While the new labor standards embody China’s concern for the relation- ship between law and social stability, the government continues to use enforcement methods from both the Republican and Maoist eras, such as campaigns to address social problems, in addition to the means stipulated by the regulations, an approach which the authors see as unsustainable in the long run. Deaton, Angus. The great escape: health, wealth, and the origins of inequality. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013. 360 p. Cloth, $29.95. ISBN: 978-0-691-15354-4 Using his expertise in economic development and a broad historical lens, Deaton ex- plains the economic progress experienced by industrialized countries that raised their