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The Rise and Fall of Unions in the U.S

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Union membership displayed an inverted-U-shaped pattern over the 20th century, while the distribution of income sketched a U. A model of unions is developed to analyze these phenomena. There is a distribution of firms in economy. Firms hire capital, plus skilled and unskilled labor. Unionization is a costly process. A union decides how many firms to organize and its members' wage rate. Simulation of the developed model establishes that skilled-biased technological change, which affects the productivity of skilled labor relative to unskilled labor, can potentially explain the above facts. Statistical analysis suggests that skill-biased technological change is an important factor in de-unionization.

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Paper provided by Economie d'Avant Garde in its series Economie d'Avant Garde Research Reports with number 19.

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Date of creation: Feb 2012
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Handle: RePEc:eag:rereps:19

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Web page: http://www.jeremygreenwood.net/EAG.htm

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Keywords: Computers; Distribution of Income; Flexible Manufacturing; Mass Production; Numerically Controlled Machines; Panel-Data Regression Analysis; Relative Price of New Equipment; Skill-Biased Technological Change; Simulation Analysis; Union Coverage; Union Membership; Deunionization;

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  1. Samuel E. Henly & Juan M. Sanchez, 2009. "The U.S. establishment-size distribution: secular changes and sectoral decomposition," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue Fall, pages 419-454.
  2. Diego Restuccia & Guillaume Vandenbroucke, 2011. "Explaining Educational Attainment across Countries and over Time," Working Papers tecipa-433, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
  3. Tony Fang & John S. Heywood, 2006. "Unionization and plant closure in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1173-1194, November.
  4. Barry T. Hirsch & David A. MacPherson, 1993. "Union membership and coverage files from the Current Population Surveys: Note," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(3), pages 574-578, April.
  5. MacDonald, Glenn M & Robinson, Chris, 1992. "Unionism in a Competitive Industry," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(1), pages 33-54, January.
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  1. The origin of de-unionization in the United States
    by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2012-06-04 14:09:00

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