IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v62y2009i3p367-380.html

Does Membership Payoff for Covered Workers? A Distributional Analysis of the Free Rider Problem

Author

Listed:
  • Ozkan Eren

Abstract

This paper examines the union membership wage premium among private sector employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. Using Current Population Survey data for 2000–2003, the author not only estimates the conditional mean wage premium—the metric on which most previous research has focused—but also employs recently developed (instrumental) quantile regression techniques to estimate the wage effect of membership across the wage distribution. Members enjoyed, on average, a wage premium of 9% over comparable covered nonmembers. Further analyses find no evidence that this mean premium is explained either by unobserved differences or by measurement error. The author also finds that a narrow focus on the mean impact partially masks heterogeneity in the impact across the distribution. Notably, membership wage effects were considerably more pronounced for low wage earners than for high wage earners.

Suggested Citation

  • Ozkan Eren, 2009. "Does Membership Payoff for Covered Workers? A Distributional Analysis of the Free Rider Problem," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(3), pages 367-380, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:62:y:2009:i:3:p:367-380
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390906200306
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979390906200306
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979390906200306?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Budd, John W & Na, In-Gang, 2000. "The Union Membership Wage Premium for Employees Covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(4), pages 783-807, October.
    2. Edward J. Schumacher, 1999. "What Explains Wage Differences Between Union Members and Covered Nonmembers?," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 493-512, January.
    3. Powell, James L., 1986. "Censored regression quantiles," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 143-155, June.
    4. Buchinsky, Moshe, 1994. "Changes in the U.S. Wage Structure 1963-1987: Application of Quantile Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 405-458, March.
    5. Barry T. Hirsch & Edward J. Schumacher, 2004. "Match Bias in Wage Gap Estimates Due to Earnings Imputation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(3), pages 689-722, July.
    6. James Heckman, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    7. Moshe Buchinsky, 1998. "Recent Advances in Quantile Regression Models: A Practical Guideline for Empirical Research," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(1), pages 88-126.
    8. Blakemore, Arthur E & Hunt, Janet C & Kiker, B F, 1986. "Collective Bargaining and Union Membership Effects on the Wages of Male Youths," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 193-211, April.
    9. Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2004. "The Union Membership Wage-Premium Puzzle: Is There a Free Rider Problem?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(3), pages 402-421, April.
    10. Barry T. Hirsch & David A. MacPherson, 2003. "Union Membership and Coverage Database from the Current Population Survey: Note," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(2), pages 349-354, January.
    11. Andrew K. G. Hildreth, 2000. "Union Wage Differentials for Covered Members and Nonmembers in Great Britain," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 21(1), pages 133-147, January.
    12. Alison L. Booth, 1985. "The Free Rider Problem and a Social Custom Model of Trade Union Membership," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(1), pages 253-261.
    13. Card, David, 1996. "The Effect of Unions on the Structure of Wages: A Longitudinal Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(4), pages 957-979, July.
    14. Sandra Christensen & Dennis Maki, 1983. "The Wage Effect of Compulsory Union Membership," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 36(2), pages 230-238, January.
    15. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
    16. Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen, 2004. "The Effects of 401(K) Participation on the Wealth Distribution: An Instrumental Quantile Regression Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(3), pages 735-751, August.
    17. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    18. Ethel B. Jones, 1982. "Union/Nonunion Differentials: Membership or Coverage?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 17(2), pages 276-285.
    19. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:1139-1181 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Halvorsen, Robert & Palmquist, Raymond, 1980. "The Interpretation of Dummy Variables in Semilogarithmic Equations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 474-475, June.
    21. Chernozhukov, Victor & Hansen, Christian, 2006. "Instrumental quantile regression inference for structural and treatment effect models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 491-525, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Clément Brébion, 2020. "The impact of works council membership on wages in Germany: a case of strategic discrimination?," PSE Working Papers halshs-02436686, HAL.
    2. Dillan Bono‐Lunn, 2024. "The impacts of U.S. right‐to‐work laws on free riding, unionization, and compensation," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(3), pages 769-791, January.
    3. Tom VanHeuvelen & David Brady, 2022. "Labor Unions and American Poverty," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(4), pages 891-917, August.
    4. Goerke, Laszlo & Pannenberg, Markus, 2015. "Trade union membership and sickness absence: Evidence from a sick pay reform," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 13-25.
    5. Clément Brébion, 2021. "The works council wage premium in Germany: a case of strategic discrimination?," Working Papers halshs-03100169, HAL.
    6. V. Chernozhukov & C. Hansen, 2013. "Quantile Models with Endogeneity," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 57-81, May.
    7. Balestra, Simone & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2017. "Heterogeneous returns to education over the wage distribution: Who profits the most?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 89-105.
    8. David Brady & Regina Baker & Ryan Finnigan, 2013. "When Unionization Disappears: State-Level Unionization and Working Poverty in the U.S," LIS Working papers 590, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

    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. Dillan Bono‐Lunn, 2024. "The impacts of U.S. right‐to‐work laws on free riding, unionization, and compensation," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(3), pages 769-791, January.
    2. Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2004. "The Union Membership Wage-Premium Puzzle: Is There a Free Rider Problem?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(3), pages 402-421, April.
    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. James Bishop & Iris Chan, 2019. "Is Declining Union Membership Contributing to Low Wages Growth?," RBA Annual Conference Papers acp2019-06, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    5. Edward J. Schumacher, "undated". "What Explains Union Membership Contract Coverage Wage Differentials?," Working Papers 9719, East Carolina University, Department of Economics.
    6. Daniel Pollmann & Thomas Dohmen & Franz Palm, 2020. "Robust Estimation of Wage Dispersion with Censored Data: An Application to Occupational Earnings Risk and Risk Attitudes," De Economist, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 519-540, December.
    7. Huber, Martin & Melly, Blaise, 2011. "Quantile Regression in the Presence of Sample Selection," Economics Working Paper Series 1109, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    8. Blanchflower, David G. & Bryson, Alex, 2004. "The union wage premium in the US and the UK," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19987, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Budd, John W & Na, In-Gang, 2000. "The Union Membership Wage Premium for Employees Covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(4), pages 783-807, October.
    10. Goerke, Laszlo & Pannenberg, Markus, 2011. "Trade union membership and dismissals," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 810-821.
    11. John Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Katalin Evers & Lutz Bellmann, 2014. "Indicative and Updated Estimates of the Collective Bargaining Premium in Germany," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 125-156, January.
    12. Balestra, Simone & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2017. "Heterogeneous returns to education over the wage distribution: Who profits the most?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 89-105.
    13. WenShwo Fang & Stephen Miller & Chih-Chuan Yeh, 2010. "Does a threshold inflation rate exist? Quantile inferences for inflation and its variability," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 619-641, December.
    14. Edward J. Schumacher, 1999. "What Explains Wage Differences Between Union Members and Covered Nonmembers?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(3), pages 493-512, January.
    15. Lee, Sokbae, 2007. "Endogeneity in quantile regression models: A control function approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 1131-1158, December.
    16. Laszlo Goerke & Markus Pannenberg, 2012. "Risk Aversion and Trade‐Union Membership," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 275-295, June.
    17. Daniel Pollmann & Thomas Dohmen & Franz Palm, 2020. "Dispersion estimation; Earnings risk; Censoring; Quantile regression; Occupational choice; Sorting; Risk preferences; SOEP; IABS," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 028, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    18. Jacob A. Bikker & Laura Spierdijk & Pieter Jelle van der Sluis, 2005. "Cheap versus Expensive Trades: Assessing the Determinants of Market Impact Costs," DNB Working Papers 069, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    19. Marco Capasso & Tania Treibich & Bart Verspagen, 2015. "The medium-term effect of R&D on firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 39-62, June.
    20. Yu-Yen Ku & Tze-Yu Yen, 2016. "Heterogeneous Effect of Financial Leverage on Corporate Performance: A Quantile Regression Analysis of Taiwanese Companies," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(03), pages 1-33, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:ilrrev:v:62:y:2009:i:3:p:367-380. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    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.