Unions and Wage Inequality
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Longitudinal Analysis of Strike Activity David Card Journal of Labor
Longitudinal Analysis of Strike Activity David Card Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 6, No. 2. (Apr., 1988), pp. 147-176. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0734-306X%28198804%296%3A2%3C147%3ALAOSA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7 Journal of Labor Economics is currently published by The University of Chicago Press. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/ucpress.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take advantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org Tue Jul 3 19:08:14 2007 Longitudinal Analysis of Strike Activity David Card, Princeton Univevsity This article presents an empirical study of strike activity in a panel of contract negotiations for some 250 firm-and-union pairs. -
Of Unionization in the Workplace
A MACKINAC CENTER REPORT THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES of Unionization in the Workplace CHRISTOPHER C. DOUGLAS, PH.D. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Michigan citizens by promoting sound solutions to state and local policy questions. The Mackinac Center assists policymakers, scholars, businesspeople, the media and the public by providing objective analysis of Michigan issues. The goal of all Center reports, commentaries and educational programs is to equip Michigan citizens and other decision makers to better evaluate policy options. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is broadening the debate on issues that have for many years been dominated by the belief that government intervention should be the standard solution. Center publications and programs, in contrast, offer an integrated and comprehensive approach that considers: All Institutions. The Center examines the important role of voluntary associations, communities, businesses and families, as well as government. All People. Mackinac Center research recognizes the diversity of Michigan citizens and treats them as individuals with unique backgrounds, circumstances and goals. All Disciplines. Center research incorporates the best understanding of economics, science, law, psychology, history and morality, moving beyond mechanical cost‑benefit analysis. All Times. Center research evaluates long-term consequences, not simply short-term impact. Committed to its independence, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy neither seeks nor accepts any government funding. The Center enjoys the support of foundations, individuals and businesses that share a concern for Michigan’s future and recognize the important role of sound ideas. The Center is a nonprofit, tax‑exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. -
Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee Chicago, IL April 17, 2014
American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 2015, 105(5): 683–688 http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.15000009 Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee Chicago, IL April 17, 2014 The first meeting of the 2014 Executive Charles I. Jones, Rachel Kranton, and Fiona Committee was called to order at 10:00 am on Scott Morton. The Nominating Committee and April 17, 2014 in the Heathrow A-B Room of the Executive Committee, acting together as the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Hotel, Chicago, IL. an electoral college, then VOTED to nominate Members present were: David Card, Dora Costa, Robert Shiller as President-elect, and VOTED Esther Duflo by phone , Steven Durlauf, Amy to recognize Robert Barro, Gregory Chow, Finkelstein, Pinelopi( Goldberg,) Claudia Goldin, Robert J. Gordon, and Richard Zeckhauser as Guido Imbens, Anil Kashyap, Jonathan Levin, Distinguished Fellows of the Association. The N. Gregory Mankiw, Rosa Matzkin, William President requested that the Secretary-Treasurer Nordhaus, Andrew Postlewaite, Peter Rousseau, revise the guidelines provided to the committee Matthew Shapiro, Christopher Sims, and Richard to reflect current practices more closely. Thaler. Alan Auerbach, Judith Chevalier, Henry Report of the Committee on Honors and Farber, and Jonathan Skinner participated in part Awards Auerbach . Auerbach explained that of the meeting and Andrew Abel, Susan Athey, nominations( for the) — Clark Medal were solic- and David Laibson participated by phone as ited from economics department heads of major members of the Honors and Awards Committee. research universities. The Honors and Awards Orley Ashenfelter participated in part of the Committee Auerbach chair , Abel, Athey, meeting as chair of the Nominating Committee. -
Learning, Career Paths, and the Distribution of Wages†
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 2019, 11(1): 49–88 https://doi.org/10.1257/mac.20170390 Learning, Career Paths, and the Distribution of Wages† By Santiago Caicedo, Robert E. Lucas Jr., and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg* We develop a theory of career paths and earnings where agents organize in production hierarchies. Agents climb these hierarchies as they learn stochastically from others. Earnings grow as agents acquire knowledge and occupy positions with more subordinates. We contrast these and other implications with US census data for the period 1990 to 2010, matching the Lorenz curve of earnings and the observed mean experience-earnings profiles. We show the increase in wage inequality over this period can be rationalized with a shift in the level of the complexity and profitability of technologies relative to the distribution of knowledge in the population. JEL D83, E24, J24, J31 ( ) his paper develops a new model of an economy that generates sustained pro- Tductivity growth. One distinctive feature of the model is that all knowledge in the economy is held by the individual people who comprise it: there is no abstract technology hovering above them in the ether. A second feature, necessarily involv- ing heterogeneous labor, is a kind of complementarity in production involving peo- ple with different skill levels: the marginal product of any one person is contingent on the people he works with. A third feature, closely related to the second, is that improvements over time in individual skill levels depend on imitation or stimulation or inspiration from other people in the economy. All growth is taken to arise from this force. -
Testimony of Robert Bruno Professor of Labor and Employment Relations University of Illinois Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce U.S
Testimony of Robert Bruno Professor of Labor and Employment Relations University of Illinois Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce U.S. House of Representatives At a Hearing Entitled, “Compulsory Unionization Through Grievance Fees: NLRB’s Assault on Right to Work” June 3, 2015 Introduction Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Scott, and Members of the Committee, my name is Robert Bruno and I am a Professor of Labor and Employment Relations in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois. My testimony today addresses four key points. First, I provide an explanation of what is meant by right-to-work (RTW) laws. Second, I explain why the ostensible focus of the hearing today is mislabeled. Third, I describe how RTW laws raise fundamental equity and fairness issues. And fourth, I show that there is a substantial body of evidence on the largely negative impacts of RTW on workers, opportunities for growing the middle- class, and society at large. I. What is a Right-to-Work Law? A “right-to-work” (RTW) law, contrary to what its name would suggest, has nothing to do with the right of an individual to seek and accept gainful employment. Instead, a RTW law is a government regulation that bars employers and labor unions from agreeing to “union security” clauses in collective bargaining agreements. “Union security” clauses ensure that each person in a collective bargaining unit who receives the benefits of collective bargaining (e.g., a higher wage, better health and retirement benefits, grievance representation, a voice at work) also provides his or her fair share of dues or fees. -
Technical Paper Series Congressional Budget Office Washington, DC
Technical Paper Series Congressional Budget Office Washington, DC MODELING LONG-RUN ECONOMIC GROWTH Robert W. Arnold Congressional Budget Office Washington, D.C. 20515 [email protected] June 2003 2003-4 Technical papers in this series are preliminary and are circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment. These papers are not subject to CBO’s formal review and editing processes. The analysis and conclusions expressed in them are those of the author and should not be interpreted as those of the Congressional Budget Office. References in publications should be cleared with the author. Papers in this series can be obtained from www.cbo.gov. Abstract This paper reviews the recent empirical literature on long-run growth to determine what factors influence growth in total factor productivity (TFP) and whether there are any channels of influence that should be added to standard models of long-run growth. Factors affecting productivity fall into three general categories: physical capital, human capital, and innovation (including other factors that might influence TFP growth). Recent empirical evidence provides little support for the idea that there are extra-normal returns to physical capital accumulation, nor is there solid justification for adding a separate channel of influence from capital to TFP growth. The paper finds evidence that human capital—as distinct from labor hours worked—is an important factor for growth but also that there is not yet a consensus about exactly how it should enter the model. Some argue that human capital should enter as a factor of production, while others argue that it merely spurs innovation. The forces governing TFP growth are not well understood, but there is evidence that R&D spending is a significant contributor and that its benefit to society may exceed its benefit to the company doing the spending—that is, it is a source of spillovers. -
1 What's Wrong with Contemporary Economics? Paul Streeten
1 What's Wrong With Contemporary Economics? Paul Streeten "Economics used to be written in English by Scotsmen; today it is written in mathematics by Hungarians." Overheard in the Common Room. If you can analyse -- and not make models your master; If you can think -- and not make algebra your aim; If you do not consider plain words a disaster And treat words, figures, symbols all the same; If you can talk to crowds and keep your virtue Or walk with econometricians -- nor lose the common touch; If neither facts nor theories can hurt you If all costs count with you, but none too much If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And -- what is more -- you'll have a lot of fun! (With apologies to Rudyard Kipling.) Educating economists The question in the title of this essay is open to two opposite interpretations, one implying approval, the other criticism. It can be interpreted either in an aggressively defiant, pugnacious mode: what's wrong with contemporary economics? The implication would be that everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds, or at least for the second best in this best of all feasible worlds. Or it can be interpreted in a matter-of-fact, quietly inquisitive mode: what is wrong with contemporary economics? I shall opt for the second interpretation. Most of us would agree that he is a poor economist who is only an economist. Yet, the pressures for appointments, promotion, tenure, and publication have become such that economists have to cultivate ever narrower fields, if not little patches. -
Estimating the Wage Premium of Collective Wage Contracts – Evidence from Longitudinal Linked Employer-Employee Data
Dis cus si on Paper No. 12-073 Estimating the Wage Premium of Collective Wage Contracts – Evidence from Longitudinal Linked Employer-Employee Data Nicole Guertzgen Dis cus si on Paper No. 12-073 Estimating the Wage Premium of Collective Wage Contracts – Evidence from Longitudinal Linked Employer-Employee Data Nicole Guertzgen Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server: http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp12073.pdf Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar. Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. Non-technical summary: Drawing on a large-scale German Linked Employer- Employee data set spanning the time period 1995-2008, this paper provides new evi- dence on the collective bargaining wage premium in western Germany. By using lon- gitudinal data, we seek to improve on recent evidence which relies on cross-sectional data. Unlike the previous literature, we assess the extent to which differences in wages between workers in covered and uncovered firms result from a non-random selection of workers and firms upon time-invariant unobservables into the different regimes. -
Walden University
Walden University College of Management and Technology This is to certify that the doctoral study by Melvin J. Rivers has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made. Review Committee Dr. Tim Truitt, Committee Chairperson, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty Dr. Yvonne Doll, Committee Member, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty Dr. Kathleen Barclay, University Reviewer, Doctor of Business Administration Faculty Chief Academic Officer Eric Riedel, Ph.D. Walden University 2014 Abstract Declining Union Membership and the Reduction of Union Representation In the Workplace By Melvin J. Rivers MBA, Keller Graduate School of Management, 2009 BS, DeVry University, 2006 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University February 2014 Abstract Union membership has declined 24.2 % since 1945. Declining union membership leads to a general business problem of economic losses to labor unions. The problem is relevant to both scholars and the labor movement, requiring development of a deeper understanding of the reasons for union membership decline. In this qualitative phenomenological study, experiences with declining union membership are explored with union representatives in Los Angeles County. The study’s conceptual framework was comprised of three models: the utility of union membership, human motivation, and collective bargaining to identify relevant elements of union membership decisions. Twenty face-to-face interviews using open-ended questions were conducted with participants who had a minimum of 3 years’ experience as a full-time union representative. The data were coded, and themes developed using the modified van Kaam method and NVivo 10 software. -
Do Minimum Wages Raise the NAIRU?
Topics in Macroeconomics Volume 4, Issue 1 2004 Article 7 Do Minimum Wages Raise the NAIRU? Peter Tulip∗ ∗Federal Reserve Board, [email protected] Copyright c 2004 by the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, bepress. Topics in Macroeconomics is one of The B.E. Journals in Macroeconomics, produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress). http://www.bepress.com/bejm. Do Minimum Wages Raise the NAIRU?∗ Peter Tulip Abstract Maybe a lot. The ratio of the minimum wage to the average wage enters a Phillips- curve equation with a coefficient that is highly significant, stable, and robust. One in- terpretation of these results is that the relative level of the minimum wage affects the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment or NAIRU. My estimates are consis- tent with the reduction in the relative level of the minimum wage since 1980 lowering the 1 U.S. NAIRU about 1 2 percentage points, while raising the NAIRU in continental Europe. However, other interpretations are also possible. KEYWORDS: NAIRU, minimum wage ∗Federal Reserve Board, Washington D.C. 20551. Email: [email protected]. This paper is a substantially revised version of Tulip (2000b). I am grateful to Charles Fleischman, Flint Brayton, Dave Reifschneider, Albert Ando, Lawrence Klein, Dan Polsky, Frank Schorfheide, Clive Crook, David Romer and an anonymous referee for helpful comments and assistance. The data and programs used in this paper are available from the author on request and at http://www.petertulip.com. -
Immigration Economics: a Review David Card Giovanni Peri UC
Immigration Economics: A Review David Card Giovanni Peri UC Berkeley UC Davis and NBER and NBER April, 2016 Abstract We review Immigration Economics (IE) by George J. Borjas, published in 2014 by Harvard University Press. The book is written as a graduate level textbook, and summarizes and updates many of Borjas' important contributions to the field over the past 30 years. A key message of the book is that immigration poses significant costs to many members of the host‐country labor market. Though the theoretical and econometric approaches presented in the book will be very useful for students and specialists in the field, we argue that book presents a one‐sided view of immigration, with little or no attention to the growing body of work that offers a more nuanced picture of how immigrants fit into the host country market and affect native workers. *We are extremely grateful to Gaetano Basso and Ingrid Hägele for their assistance. Immigration Economics: A Review George Borjas is the leading economic scholar of immigration. Over the past three decades he has authored or co‐authored dozens of papers that have opened up new lines of investigation and help frame the way that economists think about immigration. He has also written two previous books on the topic – Friends or Strangers? The Impact of Immigrants on the U.S. Economy in 1990, and Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy in 1999 – and contributed important reviews to the Journal of Economic Literature and the Handbook of Labor Economics. Borjas’ new book, Immigration Economics (IE), summarizes much of his past work, updating the empirical work in some of his seminal papers and addressing concerns that have been raised by other researchers (including us). -
Unexpected Inflation, Real Wages, and Employment Determination in Union Contracts
Unexpected Inflation, Real Wages, and Employment Determination in Union Contracts David Card The American Economic Review, Vol. 80, No. 4. (Sep., 1990), pp. 669-688. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8282%28199009%2980%3A4%3C669%3AUIRWAE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V The American Economic Review is currently published by American Economic Association. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/aea.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take advantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org Mon Jul 2 13:58:03 2007 Unexpected Inflation, Real Wages, and Employment Determination in Union Contracts This paper examines the effect of nominal contracting provisions on employment determination in union contracts.