TY  - JOUR
AU  - DiNardo,John
AU  - Lee,David S.
TI  - Economic Impacts of Unionization on Private Sector Employers: 1984-2001
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10598
PY  - 2004
Y2  - July 2004
DO  - 10.3386/w10598
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10598
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10598.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
John DiNardo
Ford School of Public Policy
5238 Weill Hall
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-3091
Tel: 734/647-7843
Fax: 734/763-9181
E-Mail: jdinardo@umich.edu

David Lee
Princeton University
4 Nassau Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544J
Tel: 609/258-9548
Fax: 609/258-2907
E-Mail: davidlee@princeton.edu
AB  - Economic impacts of unionization on employers are difficult to estimate in the absence of large, representative data on establishments with union status information. Estimates are also confounded by selection bias, because unions could organize at highly profitable enterprises that are more likely to grow and pay higher wages. Using multiple establishment-level data sets that represent establishments that faced organizing drives in the U.S. during 1984-1999, this paper uses a regression discontinuity design to estimate the impact of unionization on business survival, employment, output, productivity, and wages. Essentially, outcomes for employers where unions barely won the election (e.g. by one vote) are compared to those where the unions barely lost. The analysis finds small impacts on all outcomes that we examine; estimates for wages are close to zero. The evidence suggests that    at least in recent decades    the legal mandate that requires the employer to bargain with a certified union has had little economic impact on employers, because unions have been somewhat unsuccessful at securing significant wage gains.
ER  -