We analyze a simple strategic model of interaction between central bank and labor union. We assume that the intransparency of the central bank (labor union) induces Knightian uncertainty faced by the labor union (central bank). Knightian uncertainty means that decision makers are unable to make exact probability judgements. It is modelled by Choquet Expected Utility Theory and its recent applic...

From 1973 to 2007, private sector union membership in the United States declined from 34 to 8 percent for men and from 16 to 6 percent for women. During this period, inequality in hourly wages increased by over 40 percent. We report a decomposition, relating rising inequality to the union wage distribution’s shrinking weight. We argue that unions helped institutionalize norms of equity, reducin...

What Do Unions Do for Economic Performance? Twenty years have passed since Freeman and Medoff's What Do Unions Do? This essay assesses their analysis of how unions in the U.S. private sector affect economic performance productivity, profitability, investment, and growth. Freeman and Medoff are clearly correct that union productivity effects vary substantially across workplaces. Their conclusion...

This paper studies corporatism as the outcome of bargaining between the government and a representative labor union. We show that if negotiations between these two parties only relate to macroeconomic stabilization, corporatism can never be beneficial to both parties. As corporatist policies are nevertheless commonly observed in this context, we discuss possible explanations that reconcile the ...

To comprehend and cope with our environment we develop mental patterns or concepts of meaning. The purpose of this paper is to sketch out how we destroy and create these patterns to permit us to both shape and be shaped by a changing environment. In this sense, the discussion also literally shows why we cannot avoid this kind of activity if we intend to survive on our own terms. The activity is...

The Welfare Effects of Globalization with Labor Market Regulation I examine how globalization affects wages and welfare in a general equilibrium model of international trade with partly oligopolistic markets. Globalization is modeled as reducing trade costs or opening up shielded sectors to trade. There is a national or international common agency that determines minimum wages for the oligopoli...

Research into the effects of group diversity usually posits intra-group, interpersonal mechanisms to explain why more diverse work groups would have better or worse processes or performance than less diverse ones. Research into the causes of group diversity on the other hand usually downplays the importance of interpersonal judgment and bias and instead focus on the structural demography that f...

PURPOSE To investigate how a partnership between labor and management works to change the organization and focus of nursing home frontline work, supporting a transition toward person-centered care (PCC) in participating nursing homes. DESIGN AND METHODS Using a participatory research approach, we conducted case studies of 2 nursing homes participating in a partnership between a labor union an...

The primary challenge facing labor and employment policy in the next decade is to reconstruct the social contract between the American workforce and employers in ways that address the needs and realities of a modern economy and society. To do so the country will need to modernize the labor and employment policies carried over from the New Deal era and foster innovations in labor unions, labor m...

The effect of reapportionment in Harris Coutny and across Texas was explained by Miss Barbara Jordan at the f i r s t meeting of the Rice Young Democrats last week. Miss Jordan, a local attorney, explained that, "For the f irst time in Texas, we are going to have legislators who represent people, not cattle." The state legislature's courtordered redisricting plan will end rural domination of Te...