Impacts of Unionization on Quality and Productivity: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Nursing Homes

Aaron Sojourner, Brigham R. Frandsen (), Robert Town, David C. Grabowski () and Michelle M. Chen ()
Additional contact information
Brigham R. Frandsen: Brigham Young University
David C. Grabowski: Harvard Medical School
Michelle M. Chen: Florida International University

No 8240, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of nursing home unionization on numerous labor, establishment, and consumer outcomes using a regression discontinuity design. We find negative effects of unionization on staffing levels and no decline in care quality, suggesting positive labor productivity effects. Some evidence suggests that nursing homes in less competitive local product markets and those with lower union density at the time of election experienced stronger union employment effects. Unionization appears to raise wages for a given worker while also shifting the composition of the workforce away from higher-earning workers. By combining credible identification of union effects, a comprehensive set of outcomes over time with measures of market-level characteristics, this study generates some of the best evidence available on many controversial questions in the economics of unions. Furthermore, it generates evidence from the service sector, which has grown in importance and where evidence has been thin.

Keywords: nursing homes; trade union; health care quality; regression discontinuity; labor productivity; collective bargaining (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D2 J0 J5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 66 pages
Date: 2014-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - published in: Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 2015, 68 (4), 771 - 806

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Related works:
Journal Article: Impacts of Unionization on Quality and Productivity (2015)
Working Paper: Impacts of Unionization on Employment, Product Quality and Productivity: Regression Discontinuity Evidence From Nursing Homes (2012)
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