The Changing Size Distribution of U.S. Trade Unions and Its Description by Pareto's Distribution

John Pencavel

No 7232, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The size distribution of trade unions in the United States and changes in this distribution are documented. Because the most profound changes are taking place among very large unions, these are subject to special analysis by invoking Pareto's distribution. This represents a new application of this distribution. Extensions to trade union wealth and to Britain are broached. The role of the public sector in these changes receives particular attention. A simple model helps account both for the logarithmic distribution of union membership and for the contrasting experiences of public and private sector unions since the 1970s.

Keywords: Pareto's distribution; public-sector unions; trade union membership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2013-02
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 2014, 67 (1), 138-170

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Changing Size Distribution of U.S. Trade Unions and its Description by Pareto's Distribution (2014)
Working Paper: The Changing Size Distribution of U.S. Trade Unions and Its Description by Pareto's Distribution (2013)
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