Leaders in social movements: evidence from unions in Myanmar

Boudreau, Laura, Macchiavello, Rocco ORCID: 0009-0007-5465-3153, Minni, Virginia and Tanaka, Mari (2024) Leaders in social movements: evidence from unions in Myanmar. American Economic Review. ISSN 0002-8282 (In Press)

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Abstract

Social movements are catalysts for crucial institutional changes. To succeed, they must coordinate members’ views (consensus building) and actions (mobilization). We study union leaders within Myanmar’s burgeoning labor movement. Union leaders are positively selected on both ability and personality traits that enable them to influence others, yet they earn lower wages. In group discussions about workers’ views on an upcoming national minimum wage negotiation, randomly embedded leaders build consensus around the union’s preferred policy. In an experiment that mimics individual decisionmaking in a collective action set-up, leaders increase mobilization through coordination.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024
Divisions:	Management International Growth Centre STICERD
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J51 - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J52 - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation; Collective Bargaining D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D23 - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D70 - General C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C9 - Design of Experiments > C93 - Field Experiments
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2024 16:21
Last Modified:	09 May 2025 19:55
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/126113

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