The new economis of personnel and human resource management is analysed, including its current prominence as well as its historical antecedents. The economic paradigm as applied to personnel and human resource economics is illustrated through a variety of examples in the personnel area. These involve economic phenomenon (e.g. fixed hiring costs, asymmetric information, option values) highlinghting their implications for personalle issues, as well as personnel phenomenon (e.g., deferred compensation, pensions, mandatory retirement) highlighting their economic rationale. Other phenomenon that otherwise seem difficult to explain or paradoxical are analysed including: superstar salaries; long-hours and overtime coexisting with unemployment and underemployment often within the same organisation; the reluctance of seemingly risk averse workers to accept small wage cuts to avoid the possibility of a layoff; the payment of fringe benefits that may not be valuad by many employees; the "regular" hiring of temporary workers when permanent workers are available; egalitarian pay structures and fairness in compensation; the persistent reporting of vacancies on the part of firms buyt a reluctance to raise wages to fill those vacancies; the use of piece rates in some jobs and salary structures that are based on relative ranking of workers in other jobs; and tenure or "up-or-out" rules where people who are not promoted are required to leave rather than work for lower pay. The concluding section focuses on elements that are common across these aplications