This paper uses state fixed effect models and a Synthetic Control design with Current Population Survey (CPS) data to identify the impact of state Right-to-Work (RTW) laws on wages, benefits, and union status among private and public sector workers. Despite a modest effect of RTW laws on wages,...

What type of businesses do unions target for organizing? A dynamic model of the union organizing process is constructed to answer this question. A union monitors establishments in an industry to learn about their productivity and decides which ones to organize and when. An establishment becomes...

What type of businesses do unions target for organizing? A dynamic model of the union organizing process is constructed to answer this question. A union monitors establishments in an industry to learn about their productivity and decides which ones to organize and when. An establishment becomes...

What type of businesses attract unions? A theory of union learning and organizing is developed to provide an answer to this question. A union monitors establishments in an industry to learn about their productivity and decides which ones to organize. An establishment becomes unionized if the...

In this article, I argue that a more useful and general theory about the fate of American cities in the last half of the 20th century must begin with a discussion of the treatment of capital and the security of property rights within their borders. In particular, I will focus on the powerful...

What type of businesses do unions target for organizing and when? A dynamic model of the union organizing process is constructed to answer this question. A union monitors establishments in an industry to learn about their productivity, and decides which ones to organize and when. An...

This paper draws on a telephone survey of 1000 workers to explore whether alternative, nonunion forms of representation appear to be filling the gap left by union decline, whether this matters to authority relations at work, and whether it may, indeed, help to explain union decline. It finds...

Organized labor has been politically vocal in the United States ever since the movement emerged in the late 1800s. A striking development since the 1970s, however, is its hardening opposition to trade liberalization. Labor leaders have opposed virtually all legislative initiatives since the...

It is well known that the organizing environment for labor unions in the U.S. has deteriorated dramatically over a long period of time, contributing to the sharp decline in the private sector union membership rate and resulting in many fewer representation elections being held. What is less well...

This paper analyzes youth-adult unionization differences by uniquely using the NLSY79 to follow a single group of individuals from age 15/16 to 40/41. Youth-adult differences are shown to be largest for individuals aged 15-17, and largely disappear by age 23. Research shows that workers are most...