The economics of trade unions : a study of a research field and its findings
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The economics of trade unions : a study of a research field and its findings
（Routledge studies in labour economics, 4）
Routledge, 2020, c2017
- : pbk
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Note
First published: 2017
Includes bibliographical references (p. [164]-187) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff's now classic 1984 book What Do Unions Do? stimulated an enormous theoretical and empirical literature on the economic impact of trade unions. Trade unions continue to be a significant feature of many labor markets, particularly in developing countries, and issues of labor market regulations and labor institutions remain critically important to researchers and policy makers.
The relations between unions and management can range between cooperation and conflict; unions have powerful offsetting wage and non-wage effects that economists and other social scientists have long debated. Do the benefits of unionism exceed the costs to the economy and society writ large, or do the costs exceed the benefits? The Economics of Trade Unions offers the first comprehensive review, analysis and evaluation of the empirical literature on the microeconomic effects of trade unions using the tools of meta-regression analysis to identify and quantify the economic impact of trade unions, as well as to correct research design faults, the effects of selection bias and model misspecification.
This volume makes use of a unique dataset of hundreds of empirical studies and their reported estimates of the microeconomic impact of trade unions. Written by three authors who have been at the forefront of this research field (including the co-author of the original volume, What Do Unions Do?), this book offers an overview of a subject that is of huge importance to scholars of labor economics, industrial and employee relations, and human resource management, as well as those with an interest in meta-analysis.
Table of Contents
Introduction: why study studies of unionism?
Meta-analysis as arbiter in debates
Structure of the book
1 A bibliometric analysis of What Do Unions Do?
Freeman and Medoff's research agenda
Approach and data
Analysis
Summary
2 Research synthesis through meta-regression analysis
The core challenge of inference
Collecting and coding meta-data
Effect size
Meta-averages
Multiple meta-regression analysis
Summary
3 Unions and productivity: direct estimates
Unions and productivity levels
Unions and productivity in manufacturing industries
Unions and productivity in other industries
Summary
4 Unions and productivity growth
Unions and productivity growth: new data for an old issue
Summary
5 Unions and productivity: investment channels
Unions and physical capital investment
Unions and investment in intangible capital
Summary
6 Unions and productivity: employee behavior channels
Unions and employee turnover
Unions and job satisfaction
Unions and organizational commitment
Summary
7 Unions and financial performance of firms
Unions and profits
Summary
8 Summary and conclusions
Findings on union effects
Measured and unmeasured artifacts in research of union effects
Challenges for future research and policy
by "Nielsen BookData"
