Unions and Inequality Over the Twentieth Century: New Evidence from Survey Data

Farber, Henry S.; Herbst, Daniel; Kuziemko, Ilyana; Naidu, Suresh

doi:10.3386/w24587

Cited by 203 publications

(159 citation statements)

References 100 publications

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“…Labor unions are receiving attention on multiple fronts. While they have long been considered an important force in redistributive politics by comparative scholars (Brady & Lee, ; Moller, Huber, Stephens, Bradley, & Nielsen, ), economists have found new evidence of unionization’s mitigating effects on economic inequality (Farber et al, ). Finally, comparative scholars are also attentive to other forms of inequality (e.g., non‐monetary inequality), aligning with Piketty’s () recent suggestion that “multi‐dimensional” inequality has contributed to the political cleavages being observed throughout the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Policy Perspectives on Economic Inequality in Wealthy Countries

Giordono¹,

Jones²,

Rothwell³

2019

Policy Studies Journal

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This essay reviews the policy‐oriented literature on economic inequality in wealthy countries published from 2008 to 2018. We focus on this decade because it is a period bookended by both the beginnings of the Great Recession of 2008–2009 as well as the recovery. During this timeframe, attention to inequality by social policy scholars grew substantially, which we argue reflects an interest in both inequality trends as well as redistributive social policy. We observe in the literature sustained efforts to understand both the relationship between social policy and economic inequality, as well as determinants of changes to redistributive social policy. We also note substantial variation in research traditions, as well as opportunities to address substantive, methodological, and theoretical gaps. Our review summarizes the approaches and findings from the literature and discusses the implications of the findings for the study of economic inequality within the academic field of public policy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Interestingly, a recent working paper by Farber, Herbst, Kuzienko, and Naida () offers new evidence that unionization also has an equalizing effect on the income distribution, which will likely inspire new dialogue about the dominant explanation for economic inequality. …”

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confidence: 99%

Social Policy Perspectives on Economic Inequality in Wealthy Countries

Giordono¹,

Jones²,

Rothwell³

2019

Policy Studies Journal

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“…A novel analysis in this respect is Farber et al . (), who build an 80‐year long database of union membership from US public opinion polls, showing that (i) the premium of belonging to a union has been roughly constant over the period and (ii) greater union membership from low‐skill workers vis‐à‐vis high‐skill workers compresses the skill premium. Given these results, it is unsurprising then that a fall in unionization increases both the capital–labour divide and the skill premium.…”

Section: Research On Individual Drivers Of Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Drivers of Income Inequality in Rich Countries

Nolan

Richiardi

Valenzuela

2019

Journal of Economic Surveys

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Rising income inequality has recently come centre‐stage as a core societal concern for rich countries. The diagnosis of the forces driving inequality upwards and their relative importance remain hotly contested, notably with respect to the roles of globalization versus technology and of market forces versus institutions and policy choices. This survey provides a critical review and synthesis of recent research. The focus is on income inequality across the entire distribution, rather than only on what has been happening at the very top. We pay particular attention to include what has been learned from the analysis of micro‐data, to ensure that the coverage is not unduly US‐centric and to analyses of the interrelations between the different drivers of inequality. The marked differences in inequality trends across countries and time periods reflect how global economic forces such as globalization and technological change have interacted with differing national contexts and institutions. Major analytical challenges stand in the way of a consensus emerging on the relative importance of different drivers in how income inequality has evolved in recent decades.

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“…The concurrent rise of health and income inequities suggests that structural factors—the economic, social, and political environments that drive social outcomes—have exacerbated inequities across multiple domains. One such structural factor—declining labor union density—has precipitated burgeoning income inequity . Unionism's disproportionate decline among racialized, less‐educated, and blue‐collar workers, and the well‐documented relationship between unions and wages, benefits, occupational safety, and protective policies suggests a connection with growing mortality inequities .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solidarity and disparity: Declining labor union density and changing racial and educational mortality inequities in the United States

Eisenberg‐Guyot

Mooney

Hagopian

et al. 2019

American J Industrial Med

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Background: Recently, United States life expectancy has stagnated or declined for the poor and working class and risen for the middle and upper classes. Declining labor-union density-the percent of workers who are unionized-has precipitated burgeoning income inequity. We examined whether it has also exacerbated racial and educational mortality inequities.Methods: From CDC, we obtained state-level all-cause and overdose/suicide mortality overall and by gender, gender-race, and gender-education from 1986-2016. State-level union density and demographic and economic confounders came from the Current Population Survey. State-level policy confounders included the minimum wage, the generosity of Aid to Families with Dependent Children or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and the generosity of unemployment insurance. To model the exposure-outcome relationship, we used marginal structural modeling. Using state-level inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighted Poisson models with state and year fixed effects, we estimated 3-year moving average union density's effects on the following year's mortality rates. Then, we tested for gender, gender-race, and gender-education effect-modification. Finally, we estimated how racial and educational all-cause mortality inequities would change if union density increased to 1985 or 1988 levels, respectively.Results: Overall, a 10% increase in union density was associated with a 17% relative decrease in overdose/suicide mortality (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.70, 0.98), or 5.7 lives saved per 100 000 person-years (95% CI: −10.7, −0.7). Union density's absolute (lives-saved) effects on overdose/suicide mortality were stronger for men than women, but its relative effects were similar across genders. Union density had little effect on all-cause mortality overall or across subgroups, and modeling suggested union-density increases would not affect mortality inequities.Conclusions: Declining union density (as operationalized in this study) may not explain all-cause mortality inequities, although increases in union density may reduce overdose/suicide mortality. K E Y W O R D S fatal overdose epidemic, health disparities, health inequities, labor movement, labor unions, marginal structural models, mortality inequities, social determinants of health

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Unions and Inequality Over the Twentieth Century: New Evidence from Survey Data

Abstract: NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Cited by 203 publications

References 100 publications

Social Policy Perspectives on Economic Inequality in Wealthy Countries

Social Policy Perspectives on Economic Inequality in Wealthy Countries

The Drivers of Income Inequality in Rich Countries

Solidarity and disparity: Declining labor union density and changing racial and educational mortality inequities in the United States

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