What unions do: Insights from economic theory

Conclusion I have attempted to distill a quite sizable body of literature written by modern economists on the theory of labor unions, with particular emphasis given to the “two faces” view of unions developed by Freeman and Medolf in What Do Unions Do? Many important ideas and contributions have necessarily been omitted, but hopefully the main contours and implications are captured.     

Incarceration and the Formation and Stability of Marital Unions

Rising imprisonment rates and declining marriage rates among low‐education African Americans motivate an analysis of the effects of incarceration on marriage. An event history analysis of 2,041 unmarried men from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth suggests that men are unlikely to marry in the years they serve in prison. A separate analysis of 2,762 married men shows that incarceration during marriage significantly increases the risk of divorce or separation. We simulate aggregate marriage rates using estimates from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and find that the prevalence of marriage would change little if incarceration rates were reduced.     

Labor markets and sunday closing laws

This paper puts forth arguments regarding the occurrence of state Sunday closing laws and reports statistical estimates that predict the occurrence of those laws in 1970 and 1984. Along with other socio-economic variables, two labor market activities are found to be significant determinants of Blue laws. Membership in labor unions is found to have a positive declining influence on the laws; female labor market participation is found to have a negative but growing influence.     

Some economic effects of the California agricultural labor relations act

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (CALRA) evolved in the 1970s because the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) excluded agricultural workers. CALRA effectively placed the United Farm Workers Union in a stronger bargaining position vis-a-vis farmers than the NLRA had done for industrial unions vis-a-vis nonfarm business firms. Society has suffered a net economic loss from CALRA and the events preceding its enactment. Since passage of the act, at least three effects have been verified: Relative to conditions that would otherwise have been expected to exist, consumers are facing higher prices; agricultural workers are earning lower wages; and landowners have suffered losses in land values.     

Lyndon Johnson and the Public Polls

This article examines the relationship between President LyndonJohnson and those who take published polls. As his poll ratingsdeclined, Johnson used a number of methods to convince thosewith influence that he was more popular than the polls indicated.These methods included direct and indirect attacks on the polls,leaks of private polls, attempts to influence the results, andcourting the pollsters. The article argues that the last ofthese poses a danger to the objectivity of the pollsters. Secretlygiving advice to and taking private polls for a president areincompatible with the role of objective measurer of public opinion.     

The effects of alternating mand and tact training on the acquisition of tacts

Two training procedures were compared with respect to the average number of training trials it took to teach new verbal responses to normal children. Mand contingencies were alternated with tact contingencies in one condition while only tact contingencies were in effect in the other condition. Normal, preschool children served as subjects and toy parts were the objects that were to be named. The results indicated that it took, on the average, fewer trials to teach part names (tacts) in the mand-tact condition than in the tact only condition. Although more research is needed to confirm this, it appears that mand contingencies involve stronger controlling variables and can facilitate the acquisition of a tact repertoire.