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Democrats and Unions

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Abstract

This paper investigates whether the Democratic Party has any significant effects on unions. Employing Regression Discontinuity (RD) approach on gubernatorial elections in U.S. states over the last three decades, we investigate causal effects of Democratic governors on unionization of workers, and unionized workers' working hours and earnings. Surprisingly, we find no significant impact from Democratic governors on union membership and union members' labor-market outcomes.

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  • Louis-Philippe Beland & Bulent Unel, 2015. "Democrats and Unions," Departmental Working Papers 2015-02, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
  • Handle: RePEc:lsu:lsuwpp:2015-02
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    File URL: https://www.lsu.edu/business/economics/files/workingpapers/pap15_02.pdf
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    1. repec:ces:ifodic:v:14:y:2016:i:1:p:19204333 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Louis-Philippe Beland, 2016. "Political Parties and Economic Outcomes. A Review," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(01), pages 47-54, May.
    3. Louis-Philippe Beland, 2016. "Political Parties and Economic Outcomes. A Review," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 14(1), pages 47-54, 05.

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