Union Effects on Productivity, Profits, and Growth: Has the Long Run Arrived?

John Addison and Barry Hirsch ()

Journal of Labor Economics, 1989, vol. 7, issue 1, 72-105

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 profitabilit y 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. Copyright 1989 by University of Chicago Press.

Date: 1989
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (106)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/298199 full text (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. See http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JOLE for details.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jlabec:v:7:y:1989:i:1:p:72-105

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Labor Economics from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division ().