On the Estimation of Union Threat Effects
研究了一种估计工会对非工会工人收入影响的方法，利用印第安纳波利斯七个制造业数据发现，工会工人收入对工会工厂的非工会工人收入有正向影响，但对非工会工厂的非工会工人收入有负向影响，且控制工厂规模后影响不显著。
Some researchers view unions primarily as functioning to increase earnings inequality among the working class while others see them as threatening employers so that they raise wages for unorganized workers and minimize working-class inequality. Threat effects are defined as the tendency for nonunionized employers to respond to the threat of unionization by increasing the earnings and benefits of their workers. This paper probes a contextual method for estimating the effects of unionization on the earnings of unorganized workers. This method controls for structural characteristics that affect workers' earnings and incorporates information about the organizational strength and vitality of specific unions. Using data from seven manufacturing industries in Indianapolis, the results suggest that (1) unionized workers' earnings positively affect the earnings of unorganized workers in unionized plants, (2) unionized workers' earnings negatively affect nonunionized workers' earnings in nonunionized plants, and (3) when plant size is controlled, unionized workers' earnings have no significant effect on the earnings of nonunionized workers in nonunionized plants. These results highlight the complexity and difficulty of estimating the effects of union threat and their importance for understanding earnings inequality in the workplace.