Segmentation, Switching Costs and the Demand for Unionization in Britain

Alex Bryson and Rafael Gomez

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: This paper explains why some employees who favor unionization fail to join, and why others who wish to abandon union membership continue paying dues. Our explanation is based on a model where employees incur switching (search) costs when attempting to abandon (acquire) union membership. Empirical analysis for Britain confirms one of the main predictions from the switching-cost- model that segmentation in the market for unionization persists even when mandatory membership provisions are eliminated and economy-wide density falls. The importance of these and other empirical findings for both theory and policy are discussed.

Keywords: Union membership; switching costs; supply and demand for unionization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 J50 J51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Working Paper: Segmentation, switching costs and the demand for unionization in Britain (2003)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0568

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