IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v21y2010i1p202-210.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Union effects on performance and employment relations: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Lu, Yi
  • Tao, Zhigang
  • Wang, Yijiang

Abstract

This paper empirically studies union effects on the performance of, and employment relations in, China's private enterprises. The study finds a positive and statistically significant union effect on labor productivity, but not on profitability. It further finds that unions lead to better employee benefits and increased contract signing in employment. These findings suggest that, in the era of transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, unions in China's private enterprises do promote workers' interests as unions do in other economies. And they do that without abandoning their traditional role of harmonizing employment relations, as required by the Party.

Suggested Citation

  • Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang & Wang, Yijiang, 2010. "Union effects on performance and employment relations: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 202-210, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:21:y:2010:i:1:p:202-210
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043-951X(10)00002-7
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard B. Freeman & James L. Medoff, 1979. "The Two Faces of Unionism," NBER Working Papers 0364, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Wise, David A., 1985. "Pensions, Labor, and Individual Choice," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226902937, December.
    3. Barry T. Hirsch, 2004. "Reconsidering Union Wage Effects: Surveying New Evidence on an Old Topic," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(2), pages 233-266, April.
    4. John W. Budd & Brian P. McCall, 1997. "The Effect of Unions on the Receipt of Unemployment Insurance Benefits," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(3), pages 478-492, April.
    5. Freeman, Richard B, 1984. "Longitudinal Analyses of the Effects of Trade Unions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-26, January.
    6. Montgomery, Edward & Shaw, Kathryn, 1997. "Pensions and Wage Premia," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 510-522, July.
    7. Richard B. Freeman, 1985. "Unions, Pensions, and Union Pension Funds," NBER Chapters, in: Pensions, Labor, and Individual Choice, pages 89-122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Thomas C. Buchmueller & John Dinardo & Robert G. Valletta, 2002. "Union Effects on Health Insurance Provision and Coverage in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(4), pages 610-627, July.
    9. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel (ed.), 2003. "International Handbook of Trade Unions," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2705.
    10. Laroche, P., 2000. "What do Unions do to Productivity? A Meta-Analysis," Papers 2000-5, Groupe de recherche en économie financière et en gestion des entreprises, Universite Nancy 2.
    11. Gordon White, 1996. "Chinese Trade Unions in the Transition from Socialism: Towards Corporatism or Civil Society?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 34(3), pages 433-457, September.
    12. Victor R. Fuchs & Alan B. Krueger & James M. Poterba, 1998. "Economists' Views about Parameters, Values, and Policies: Survey Results in Labor and Public Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1387-1425, September.
    13. Richard B. Freeman, 1981. "The Effect of Unionism on Fringe Benefits," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 34(4), pages 489-509, July.
    14. Van Reenen, John & Menezes-Filho, Naercio, 2003. "Unions and Innovation: A Survey of the Theory and Empirical Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 3792, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Chong‐En Bai & Jiangyong Lu & Zhigang Tao, 2006. "Property rights protection and access to bank loans," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 14(4), pages 611-628, October.
    16. Steven G. Allen & Robert L. Clark, 1986. "Unions, Pension Wealth, and Age-Compensation Profiles," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 39(4), pages 502-517, July.
    17. David A. Wise, 1985. "Pensions, Labor, and Individual Choice," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number wise85-1, March.
    18. Robert Kornfeld, 1993. "The Effects of Union Membership on Wages and Employee Benefits: The Case of Australia," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 47(1), pages 114-128, October.
    19. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng & Wang, Qian & Zhou, Li-An, 2008. "Political connections, financing and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese private firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 283-299, October.
    20. Barry T. Hirsch, 2004. "What Do Unions Do for Economic Performance?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(3), pages 415-456, July.
    21. Toke Aidt & Zafiris Tzannatos, 2002. "Unions and Collective Bargaining : Economic Effects in a Global Environment," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15241, December.
    22. Peter Kuhn, 1998. "Innis Lecture: Unions and the Economy: What We Know; What We Should Know," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 31(5), pages 1033-1056, November.
    23. Montgomery, Edward, 1989. "Employment and Unemployment Effects of Unions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(2), pages 170-190, April.
    24. John W. Budd, 2004. "Non-Wage Forms of Compensation," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(4), pages 597-622, October.
    25. Steven G. Allen & Robert L. Clark, 1985. "Unions, Pension Wealth, and Age-Compensation Profiles," NBER Working Papers 1677, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. Addison, John T & Hirsch, Barry T, 1989. "Union Effects on Productivity, Profits, and Growth: Has the Long Run Arrived?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(1), pages 72-105, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chang Hee Lee & Mingwei Liu, 2011. "Collective Bargaining in Transition: Measuring the Effects of Collective Voice in China," Chapters, in: Susan Hayter (ed.), The Role of Collective Bargaining in the Global Economy, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Héctor Gutiérrez Rufrancos, 2019. "Are There Gains to Joining a Union? Evidence from Mexico," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 676-712, September.
    3. Fernando Rios-Avila, 2017. "Unions and Economic Performance in Developing Countries: Case Studies from Latin America," Revista Ecos de Economía, Universidad EAFIT, vol. 21(44), pages 4-36, June.
    4. John T. Addison, 2016. "Collective bargaining systems and macroeconomic and microeconomic flexibility: the quest for appropriate institutional forms in advanced economies," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-53, December.
    5. Gustman, A.L. & Mitchell, O.S. & Steinmeier, T.L., 1993. "The Role of Pensions in the Labor Market," Papers 93-07, Cornell - Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies.
    6. Matthew Knepper, 2020. "From the Fringe to the Fore: Labor Unions and Employee Compensation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(1), pages 98-112, March.
    7. John T. Addison, 2016. "Collective bargaining systems and macroeconomic and microeconomic flexibility: the quest for appropriate institutional forms in advanced economies," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-53, December.
    8. Fang, Tony & Ge, Ying, 2012. "Unions and firm innovation in China: Synergy or strife?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 170-180.
    9. Barry T. Hirsch, 2008. "Sluggish Institutions in a Dynamic World: Can Unions and Industrial Competition Coexist?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 153-176, Winter.
    10. Cardullo, Gabriele & Conti, Maurizio & Sulis, Giovanni, 2015. "Sunk capital, unions and the hold-up problem: Theory and evidence from cross-country sectoral data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 253-274.
    11. Barry T. Hirsch, 2012. "Unions, dynamism, and economic performance," Chapters, in: Cynthia L. Estlund & Michael L. Wachter (ed.), Research Handbook on the Economics of Labor and Employment Law, chapter 4, pages 107-145, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Sabien Dobbelaere & Mark Vancauteren, 2014. "Market imperfections, skills and total factor productivity : Firm-level evidence on Belgium and the Netherlands," Working Paper Research 267, National Bank of Belgium.
    13. Laroche, Patrice, 2020. "Unions, Collective Bargaining and Firm Performance," GLO Discussion Paper Series 728, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Di Gialleonardo, Luca & Marè, Mauro & Motroni, Antonello & Porcelli, Francesco, 2016. "The impact of financial crisis on savings decisions: evidences from Italian pension funds," MPRA Paper 76066, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jul 2016.
    15. Barry T. Hirsch, 2004. "What Do Unions Do for Economic Performance?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(3), pages 415-456, July.
    16. Devicienti, Francesco & Manello, Alessandro & Vannoni, Davide, 2017. "Technical efficiency, unions and decentralized labor contracts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 260(3), pages 1129-1141.
    17. Antonioli, Davide & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2017. "Towards a green economy through innovations: The role of trade union involvement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 286-299.
    18. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2008. "What Do Japanese Unions Do for Productivity?: An Empirical Analysis Using Firm-Level Data," Discussion papers 08027, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    19. Cedric E. Dawkins, 2019. "A Normative Argument for Independent Voice and Labor Unions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 1153-1165, April.
    20. David Weil, 2003. "Individual Rights and Collective Agents: The Role of Old and New Workplace Institutions in the Regulation of Labor Markets," NBER Working Papers 9565, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:21:y:2010:i:1:p:202-210. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.