Inequality and Union Membership: The Influence of Relative Earnings and Inequality Attitudes

Abstract

Using surveys from the International Social Survey

Unionization and the partisan effect on income inequality

“…43 Since the traditional left party constituency is numerically larger than that of the center or right, there would appear to be a natural advantage for parties of the left within a democratic context. However, this advantage is substantially hampered as a result of the low levels of political knowledge and market resources within these left party constituencies 44 Checchi, Visser, and van de Werfhorst (2007); Pontusson (2013). 47 E.g., Wallerstein (1999); Pontusson, Rueda and Way (2002); Bradley et al (2003); Mahler, Jesuit and Paradowski (2013).…”

Explaining postwar wage compression

“…Most recent accounts of organized labor's effect on the distribution of wages neglect the issue altogether and, following a long-established tradition in the field of labor economics (e.g. Booth, 1995;Checchi, Visser, & van de Werfhorst, 2010;Freeman, 1980) explain union policies through theoretical models that view collective behavior as an aggregated form of individual means-tested rationality. In this view, labor unions are utility maximizing agents whose policies are a direct extension of the interests of a majority of their members.…”

Does the Prosperity Level of States Affect Participation in Trade Unions? A Quantitative Research

“…The decline of unionization also-for some researchers-is considered as a major cause for the increase in wage inequality. Card, Lemieux and Riddell, also support that unions can no longer hinder the course of increasing wage inequality especially among men who have different skills and this fact enhances the decline of union Charlwood in a survey they conducted (Checchi et al, 2010).…”

“…Some academics argued that unions generally support the compression of wages, especially when they need to organize workers of different skill levels and therefore different wages (Checchi et al, 2010). The decline of unionization also-for some researchers-is considered as a major cause for the increase in wage inequality.…”

“…Institutional explanations assume that collective bargaining and minimum wage adjustments compress wage differences to the bottom of wage distribution in countries with centralized wage determination compared to countries with decentralized wage determination systems. Furthermore, it is known that trade unions generally seek to compress wages and combating of inequality has always been associated with economic benefits (Checchi et al, 2010).…”