Why unions survive: understanding how unions overcome the free-rider problem

Murphy, Richard (2019) Why unions survive: understanding how unions overcome the free-rider problem. CEP Discussion Papers (1625). Centre for Economic Performance, LSE, London, UK.

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Abstract

This paper provides evidence for why individuals join unions instead of free-riding. I model membership as legal insurance. To test the model, I use the incidence of news stories concerning allegations against teachers in the UK as a plausibly exogenous shock to demand for such insurance. I find that, for every five stories occurring in a region, teachers are 2.2 percentage points more likely to be members in the subsequent year. These effects are larger when teachers share characteristics with the news story and can explain 45 percent of the growth in teacher union membership between 1992 and 2010.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/series.asp?...
Additional Information:	© 2019 The Authors
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions L Education > L Education (General) P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
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 > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J45 - Public Sector Labor Markets J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J32 - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Private Pensions
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2019 11:36
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:48
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/102809

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