IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v9y2020i11p198-d438077.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trade and Strike Activity in the Postwar United States

Author

Listed:
  • M. Rodwan Abouharb

    (Department of Political Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK)

  • Benjamin O. Fordham

    (Department of Political Science, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of international trade on strike activity within the United States since World War II. Globalization may influence strike activity through its effects on the bargaining position of labor. Alternatively, if labor and management take their changed bargaining positions into account, the rate of change in openness could create greater uncertainty in negotiations between them and lead to more strikes as a result. Empirical analysis of strike activity in the 50 states over this period supports the argument concerning uncertainty in the bargaining process. Import competition may also indirectly reduce strike activity by decreasing union density.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Rodwan Abouharb & Benjamin O. Fordham, 2020. "Trade and Strike Activity in the Postwar United States," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-25, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:11:p:198-:d:438077
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/11/198/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/11/198/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Neumayer, Eric & Soysa, Indra de, 2006. "Globalization and the Right to Free Association and Collective Bargaining: An Empirical Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 31-49, January.
    2. W. Robert Reed, 2003. "How Right-To-Work Laws Affect Wages," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 24(4), pages 713-730, October.
    3. Card, David, 1988. "Longitudinal Analysis of Strike Activity," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(2), pages 147-176, April.
    4. Bruce E. Kaufman, 1981. "Bargaining Theory, Inflation, and Cyclical Strike Activity in Manufacturing," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 34(3), pages 333-355, April.
    5. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 1995. "What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 634-647, September.
    6. Schor, Juliet B & Bowles, Samuel, 1987. "Employment Rents and the Incidence of Strikes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(4), pages 584-592, November.
    7. Reder, Melvin W & Neumann, George R, 1980. "Conflict and Contract: The Case of Strikes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(5), pages 867-886, October.
    8. Axel Dreher & Noel Gaston, 2007. "Has Globalisation Really had no Effect on Unions?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 165-186, May.
    9. Fordham, Benjamin O. & McKeown, Timothy J., 2003. "Selection and Influence: Interest Groups and Congressional Voting on Trade Policy," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(3), pages 519-549, July.
    10. Scheve, Kenneth F. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2001. "What determines individual trade-policy preferences?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 267-292, August.
    11. Ashenfelter, Orley & Johnson, George E, 1969. "Bargaining Theory, Trade Unions, and Industrial Strike Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 35-49, March.
    12. Wolfgang F. Stolper & Paul A. Samuelson, 1941. "Protection and Real Wages," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 9(1), pages 58-73.
    13. Kåre Vernby, 2007. "Strikes are more common in countries with majoritarian electoral systems," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 65-84, July.
    14. Jason Winfree, 2009. "Owners incentives during the 2004-05 National Hockey League lockout," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(25), pages 3275-3285.
    15. Jagdish N. Bhagwati, 2004. "In Defense of Globalization: It Has a Human Face," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 94(6), pages 9-20, November-.
    16. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    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. Davies, Ronald B. & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2013. "A race to the bottom in labor standards? An empirical investigation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 1-14.
    2. Cooray, Arusha & Tamazian, Artur & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2014. "What drives FDI policy liberalization? An empirical investigation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 179-189.
    3. Card, David, 1988. "Longitudinal Analysis of Strike Activity," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(2), pages 147-176, April.
    4. William H. Greene & Ana P. Martins, 2002. "Striking Features of the Labor Market," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2002/08, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    5. Peter Cramton & Morley Gunderson & Joseph Tracy, 1999. "The Effect Of Collective Bargaining Legislation On Strikes And Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(3), pages 475-487, August.
    6. William H. Greene & Ana P. Martins, 2013. "Striking Features of the Labor Market: Theory," Journal of Economics and Econometrics, Economics and Econometrics Society, vol. 56(2), pages 1-24.
    7. Miguel Malo & Nuria Sánchez-Sánchez, 2014. "The legal form of labour conflicts and their time persistence: an empirical analysis with a large firms’ panel," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 513-533, December.
    8. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:1091-1137 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Katja B. Kleinberg & Benjamin O. Fordham, 2010. "Trade and Foreign Policy Attitudes," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 54(5), pages 687-714, October.
    10. William H. Greene & Ana P. Martins, 2013. "Striking Features of the Labor Market: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Economics and Econometrics, Economics and Econometrics Society, vol. 56(2), pages 25-53.
    11. Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati, 2015. "Rewards of (Dis)Integration," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(1), pages 3-27, January.
    12. Benoît Lyrette & Paul-Martel Roy, 1992. "Le régime des décrets favorise-t-il la paix industrielle? L'expérience des activités manufacturières québécoises, 1980-1988," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 18(3), pages 261-274, September.
    13. Fertő, Imre, 2013. "Intra-industry trade for agri-food products in the enlarged European Union," 87th Annual Conference, April 8-10, 2013, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 158846, Agricultural Economics Society.
    14. Rodríguez Chatruc, Marisol & Stein, Ernesto H. & Vlaicu, Razvan, 2019. "Trade Attitudes in Latin America: Evidence from a Multi-Country Survey Experiment," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 9603, Inter-American Development Bank.
    15. S Milner, 1995. "Industrial Disputes and the Law in Spain," CEP Discussion Papers dp0250, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Aladejare, Samson Adeniyi, 2022. "Natural resource rents, globalisation and environmental degradation: New insight from 5 richest African economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Haas, Levi & Schenk-Hoppé, Klaus R., 2019. "International Trade: Smarten up to talk the talk," MPRA Paper 99096, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Megumi Naoi & Shujiro Urata, 2013. "Free Trade Agreements and Domestic Politics: The Case of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 8(2), pages 326-349, December.
    19. Meenu Saihjpal, 2016. "An Econometric Exploration into the Determinants of Industrial Disputes in Indian Manufacturing Industries," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 41(2), pages 107-126, May.
    20. Fangjin Ye, 2020. "The impact of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on collective labor rights in developing countries," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 899-921, October.
    21. Thiemo Fetzer & Carlo Schwarz, 2021. "Tariffs and Politics: Evidence from Trump’s Trade Wars," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(636), pages 1717-1741.

    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:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:11:p:198-:d:438077. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.