Document Type
Article
Subject Area(s)
Economics
Abstract
This article interprets literature examining union effects on economic performance. Production function studies indicate small overall union impacts on productivity; positive effects, where they exist, appear to result from management response to decreased profit expectations and from a natural selection process. Lower profitability among unionized firms is well established; more interesting is the possibility that unions appropriate quasi rents deriving from long-lived tangible and intangible capital. the connection between unions, investment behavior, and productivity growth emerges as a particularly fruitful line of empirical inquiry, although it does not encourage a sanguine view of unionism's long-run impact.
Publication Info
The Journal of Labor Economics, Volume 7, Issue 1, 1989, pages 72-105.
Rights
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=jlaboreconomics
© 1989 by The University of Chicago
