The Economics of Trade Unions: New Directions

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Unions, Wages, Strikes, and Productivity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Changes over Time in the Union-Nonunion Wage Differential in the United States

      • George E. Johnson

      Pages 3-25

   3. Strike Cost and Wage Rates

      • Melvin W. Reder

      Pages 27-41

   4. Cyclical Strike Activity and Mature Collective Bargaining

      • George R. Neumann

      Pages 43-62

   5. The Relative Wage Effect of French Unions

      • Jean-François Hennart

      Pages 63-81

   6. Trade Unions and Restrictive Practices

      • John T. Addison

      Pages 83-119

3. The Nature of Unions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121

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   2. The Economic Analysis of the Trade Union as a Political Institution

      • John Burton

      Pages 123-155

   3. Toward a Theory of the Union Firm

      • Jean-Jacques Rosa

      Pages 157-189

   4. The Agency Problem in a Nonproprietary Theory of Union Behavior

      • Donald L. Martin

      Pages 191-220

   5. The Empirical Performance of a Model of Trade Union Behavior

      • John H. Pencavel

      Pages 221-276

   6. The Determinants of Union Staff Salaries

      • Bernard Lentz

      Pages 277-311

4. Perspectives for Research

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 313-313

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   2. Unions: Economic Performance and Labor Market Structure

      • Peter B. Doeringer

      Pages 315-338

   3. Union Membership and Union Management

      • Leo Troy, Neil Sheflin

      Pages 339-352

5. Back Matter

   Pages 353-353

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The crisis in trade unionism is now a prevailing concern in the United States, as well as in Europe. Its main symptom is, of course, the decrease in union membership. Still, other, less observable elements account for the concern, namely the obsolescence of discourse, the decrease of militant motivation, and the question of efficiency of strikes or collective bargaining. One must keep in mind, however, that trade unions will evolve differently from one country to another. What we know about trade unions has changed over the years. We can now more accurately assess the effects of union action, especially with regard to labor market, wages, and productivity. This book adds to the assessment by integrating the new theories of organizations, contracts, and property rights. In doing so, we shift from a study of markets to one of hierarchies. Thus, the current literature comes back to its sources (but with improved analytical instruments) by returning to the Ross-Dunlop debate on the nature of the trade union. This more complex outlook of trade unions as an organization-not only as an abstract or bodyless supplier of monopolistic labor-allows one to understand better the apparent differences between unions (mainly American) whose action is oriented towards work relation­ ships and labor contract management and unions (European or "Latin") who are closer to a pressure group wielding power on the political front.

• Trade unions
• Union
• Unions
• trade union

• Fondation Nationale d’Economie Politique, Paris, France

  Jean-Jacques Rosa

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