Collective Action and the Origins of the American Labor Movement

Ethan Schmick

The Journal of Economic History, 2018, vol. 78, issue 3, 744-784

Abstract: This article examines the relationship between collective action and the size of worker and employer groups in the United States. It proposes and tests a theory of union formation and strikes. Using a new county-by-industry level dataset containing the location of unions, the location of strikes, average establishment size, and the number of establishments around the turn of the twentieth century, I find that unions were more likely to form and strikes were more likely to occur in counties with intermediate-sized worker groups and large employer groups.

Date: 2018
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