Using the 1968, 1981, and 2000 Swedish Level of Living Surveys, the authors examine the evolution of the wage distribution in Sweden over the periods 1968-1981 and 1981-2000. The first period was the heyday of the Swedish solidarity wage policy with strong equalization clauses in the central...

How does an increase in unionization costs, i.e. costs which arise when workers are organized by a union, affect the productivity distribution of active firms, wage inequality and welfare? In this paper, we build a model with costly, endogenous unionization, heterogeneous firms as well as free...

Trade unions have transformed from male-dominated organisations rooted in manufacturing to majority-female organisations serving predominantly white-collar workers, often in the public sector. Adopting a comparative case study approach using nationally representative linked employer-employee...

The paper re-examines the question of why unions might have declined despite the 'influx' of women, their risk-averse constituents, into British workplaces. It argues that given unions' role in minimising risk, membership should have been boosted. The paper reviews different strands of the...

The paper re-examines the question of why unions might have declined despite the 'influx' of women, their risk-averse constituents, into British workplaces. It argues that given unions' role in minimising risk, membership should have been boosted. The paper reviews different strands of the...

Can conventional economic analysis help in defining and measuring the success of labor unions? In this paper, a general indicator of union welfare is proposed and particular expressions for the wage and employment objectives of unions are rearranged to derive measures of union success or...

The Israeli Male and Female Workers Equal Pay Law of 1996 declares that men and women are entitled to equal pay for the same work. Nevertheless, most sectoral collective agreements in Israel afford only men with the right to a "family supplement". The current article seeks to understand the...

Using detailed employee-employer administrative data, we analyze the impact of the gender pay gap on the performance of firms and find that it depends on the presence of labor unions. When the firm is not unionized, the gender pay gap reduces profitability. In contrast, when unions are present,...