A Note on Analysing Time Series Data which Accumulate Over Unequal Observation Intervals

The problem of analysing flow series observed over unequal periods of time is discussed, and a suggestion is made for dealing with situations where the lengths of the periods follow a simple pattern     

The free rider argument for compulsory union dues

This paper examines the free rider argument for compulsory union dues. The contemporary theory of collective goods does not support the union argument because a free rider problem is not a sufficient condition to rationalize the private use of coercion. The paper evaluates quantitative data on union security and applies the theory of local public goods to union services. The focus is on efficiency aspects of security arrangements.     

New evidence on the value of birth expectations

Past national surveys regarding birth expectations have usually been restricted to currently married women, a fact which has led demographers to question the usefulness of these data. Because the June 1976 Current Population Survey includes the expectations of all women in a cohort regardless of marital status, it provides the data needed to evaluate biases due to restricted survey universes. At older ages, where there are substantial differences in lifetime expectations between currently married and single women, there are relatively few single women; at younger ages, however, where the proportion of single women in a cohort is relatively large, the differences in expectations are small. This counterbalancing effect makes the lifetime birth expectations of currently married women a close approximation of all women in a cohort. The analysis also indicates that the observed intracohort declines in lifetime birth expectations since 1967 were due largely to the addition at subsequent survey dates of previously unmarried women; nevertheless, some “true” cohort declines also seem to have occurred.     

Self-Interest and Civilians' Attitudes Toward the Vietnam War

The possible consequences of self-interest on American publicopinion were examined in the context of the United States militaryinvolvement in Vietnam Civilians' personal connections to thewar, in terms of their friends' and relatives' military service,did make them pay more attention to the war, but such connectionsseemed to have only weak effects on the salience of the waras a political issue. Similarly, there was no evidence thatthe self-interested had distinctively self-serving policy attitudestoward the war. Rather, the more important determinants of attitudestoward the war were attitudes toward various political symbolsassociated with the war. Finally, self-interest made very littledifference in enhancing the consistency of partisan attitudesinvolved in the 1968 presidential decision.     

Whatever happened to the monopoly theory of labor unions?

This paper argues that unions act in accord with the conventional cartel or monopoly model. The basic premise is that it is useful to ask what a “union maximizes” because if more wealth is available, union decision-makers have an incentive to capture it for themselves or their membership. In the formal model, unions negotiate wage rates which maximize the monetary surplus above the supply price of labor, providing an endogenous answer to the questions of how union employment and wages are simultaneously determined. Comparative static analysis yields empirical predictions about the behavior of union employment, wage rates, and union-nonunion wage differentials. I would like to acknowledge helpful comments by Richard Anderson, Ray Battalio, Hugh Macaulay, Michael Ormiston and Akira Takayama on earlier drafts of this paper. The usual caveat applies.