A Biological Model of Unions

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kremer, Michael; Olken, Benjamin A.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; Brookings Institution; National Bureau of Economic Research; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.1.2.150
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 150-175
• 关键词: american labor unions; decline; ORGANIZATION; membership; ecology; firm

摘要

This paper applies principles from evolutionary biology to the study of unions. We show that unions that implement the preferred wage and organizing policies of workers will be displaced in evolutionary competition by unions that either extract less from firms, allowing them to live longer, or spend more on union organizing, or both. This implies that unions with constitutional incumbency advantages that allow leaders to depart from members' preferences may have a selective advantage, allowing them to grow at the expense of unions lacking such provisions. Evidence from the history of American unions supports these predictions. (JEL A12, J51)