A Biological Model of Unions / Michael Kremer, Benjamin A. Olken.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kremer, Michael.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Olken, Benjamin A.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w8257.

NBER working paper series no. w8257

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2001.

Summary:

This paper applies principles from evolutionary biology to the study of unions. We show that unions which maximize the present discounted wages of current members will be displaced in evolutionary competition by unions with more moderate wage policies that allow their firms to live longer. This suggests that unions with constitutional incumbency advantages that allow leaders to moderate members' wage demands may have a selective advantage. The model also suggests that industries with high turnover of firms will have low unionization rates, and that there may be one equilibrium with high unionization and long-lived firms and another with low unionization and short-lived firms. These predictions seem broadly consistent with the data.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2001.