Three central facts describe inter-firm worker mobility in modern labor markets: (1) long-term employment relationships are common; (2) most new jobs end early; and (3) the probability of a job ending declines with tenure. Models based on firm-specific capital provide a parsimonious explanation...

New union members in the United States are typically gained through workplace elections. We find that the annual number of union elections fell by 50 per cent in the early 1980s. A formal model indicates that declining union election activity may be due to an unfavourable political climate which...