The Dynamics of Trade Unionism and National Economic Performance | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Abstract

I test two theories of the political processes of trade unions. The first argues that wage moderation depends on a centralized labor movement. The second contends that, institutional conditions permitting, unions' coordination of bargaining strategies is sufficient. Coordination is most likely to he achieved when there are small number of unions that do not compete for members, that is, when union monopoly is high. Important empirical anomalies may be resolved by analyzing the effects of union centralization and monopoly separately, rather than combining them into a composite index of corporatism. Reanalyzing comparative data from Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development countries between 1963 and 1985 largely corroborates the hypothesis that monopoly is more important than either centralization or composite indices of corporatism for national economic performance. The conceptual rationale underlying indices of corporatism should be reexamined.

References

Ahlén, Kristina. 1989. “Swedish Collective Bargaining under Pressure: Inter-Union Rivalry and Incomes Policies.” British Journal of Industrial Relations 27:330–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Alvarez, R. Michael, Garrett, Geoffrey, and Lange, Peter. 1991. “Government Partisanship, Labor Organization, and Macroeconomic Performance.” American Political Science Review 85:539–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Armingeon, Klaus. 1987. “The Compatibility of Economic, Social, and Political Goals in Incomes Policies: A Comparative Analysis of Incomes Policy Developments in Ten Western European Countries in the 1970s.” In Coping with the Economic Crisis, ed. Keman, Hans, Paloheimo, Heikki, and Whiteley, Paul F.. London: Sage.Google Scholar

Bean, C. R., Layard, P. R. G., and Nickell, S. J.. 1986. “The Rise in Unemployment: A Multi-Country Study.” Econometrica 53(210S): S1–22.Google Scholar

Belsley, David, Kuh, Edwin, and Welsch, Roy E.. 1980. Regression Diagnostics: Identifying Influential Data and Sources of Collinearity. New York: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Blass, Wolfgang. 1982. “Institutional Analysis of Stagflation.” Journal of Economic Issues 16:955–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bowman, John. 1982. “The Logic of Capitalist Collective Action.” Social Science Information 21:571–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bruno, Michael, and Sachs, Jeffrey. 1985. The Economics of Worldwide Stagflation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Calmfors, Lars, and Driffill, John. 1988. “Bargaining Structure, Corporatism, and Macroeconomic Performance.” Economic Policy 3:13–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Cameron, David R. 1984. “Social Democracy, Corporatism, Labour Quiescence, and the Representation of Economic Interest in Advanced Capitalist Society.” In Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism, ed. Goldthorpe, John H.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Crouch, Colin. 1985. “Conditions for Trade Union Wage Restraint.” In The Politics of Inflation and Economic Stagnation, ed. Lindberg, Leon N. and Maier, Charles S.. Washington: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar

Czada, Roland. 1987. “The Impact of Interest Politics on Flexible Adjustment Policies.” In Coping with the Economic Crisis, ed. Keman, Hans, Paloheimo, Heikki, and Whiteley, Paul F.. London: Sage.Google Scholar

Efron, Bradley. 1982. The Jackknife, the Bootstrap, and Other Resampling Plans. Philadelphia: Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Elster, Jon. 1984. Ulysses and the Sirens: Studies in Rationality and Irrationality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Freeman, Richard B. 1988. “Labor Market Institutions and Economic Performance.” Economic Policy 3:63–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Garrett, Geoffrey, and Lange, Peter. 1986. “Performance in a Hostile World: Economic Growth in Capitalist Democracies, 1974–1982.” World Politics 38:517–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Golden, Miriam. 1992. “Conclusion: Current Trends in Trade Union Politics.” In Bargaining for Change, ed. Golden, Miriam and Pontusson, Jonas. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar

Golden, Miriam, Lange, Peter, and Wallerstein, Michael. 1992. “The End of Corporatism?” University of California, Los Angeles: Institute of Industrial Relations. Typescript.Google Scholar

Golden, Miriam, Lange, Peter, and Wallerstein, Michael. N.d. “Union Centralization among Advanced Industrial Societies: An Empirical Study.” University of California, Los Angeles. Typescript.Google Scholar

Headey, Bruce W. 1970. “Trade Unions and National Wage Policies.” Journal of Politics 32:407–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Hennings, Klaus Hinrich. 1982. “West Germany.” In The European Economy: Growth and Crisis, ed. Boltho, Andrea. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Hicks, Alexander. 1988. “Social Democratic Corporatism and Economic Growth.” Journal of Politics 50:677–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Judge, George G., Carter Hill, R., Griffiths, W. E., Leutkepohl, Helmut, and Lee, Tsoung-Chao. 1985. The Theory and Practice of Econometrics. 2d ed.New York: Wiley.Google Scholar

Lange, Peter. 1984. “Unions, Workers, and Wage Regulation: The Rational Bases of Consent.” In Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism, ed. Goldthorpe, John H.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Lange, Peter, and Garrett, Geoffrey. 1985. “The Politics of Growth: Strategic Interaction and Economic Performance in the Advanced Industrial Democracies, 1974–1980.” Journal of Politics 47:792–827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Lash, Scott. 1985. “The End of Neo-corporatism? The Breakdown of Centralised Bargaining in Sweden.” British Journal of Industrial Relations 23:215–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Learner, Edward E. 1978. Specification Searches: Ad Hoc Inference for Nonexperimental Data. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar

Lijphart, Arend, and Crepaz, Markus M. L.. 1991. “Corporatism and Consensus Democracy in Eighteen Countries: Conceptual and Empirical Linkages.” British Journal of Political Science 21:235–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Lipset, Seymour Martin, Trow, Martin, and Coleman, James. 1956. Union Democracy: The Inside Politics of the International Typographical Union. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar

McCallum, John. 1986. “Unemployment in the OECD Countries in the 1980s.” Economic Journal 96:942–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Lutz, Mark A. 1981. “Stagflation as an Institutional Problem.” Journal of Economic Issues 15:745–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Marks, Gary. 1986. “Neocorporatism and Incomes Policy in Western Europe and North America.” Comparative Politics 18:253–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Martin, Andrew. 1991. “Wage Bargaining and Swedish Politics: The Political Implications of the End of Central Negotiations.” Working Paper Series no. 36. Harvard University Center for European Studies.Google Scholar

Michels, Robert. 1962. Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. New York: Free PressGoogle Scholar

Moene, Karl Ove, Wallerstein, Michael, and Hoel, Michael. 1993. “Bargaining Structure and Economic Performance.” In Trade Union Behavior, Pay Bargaining and Economic Performance, ed. Flanagan, Robert, Moene, Karl Ove, and Wallerstein, Michael. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar

Newell, A., and Symons, J. S. V.. 1987. “Corporatism, Laissez-Faire, and the Rise in Unemployment.” European Economic Review 31:567–614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Olson, Mancur. 1982. The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar

Panitch, Leo. 1981. “Trade Unions and the Capitalist State.” New Left Review 125:21–43.Google Scholar

Pizzorno, Alessandro. 1978. “Political Exchange and Collective Identity in Industrial Conflict.” In Comparative Analyses, vol. 2 of The Resurgence of Class Conflict in Western Europe since 1968, ed. Crouch, Colin and Pizzorno, Alessandro. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar

Pontusson, Jonas. 1992. “The Political Economy of Class Compromise: Labor and Capital in Sweden.” Politics and Society 20:305–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Rousseeuw, Peter J., and Leroy, Annick. 1987. Robust Regression and Outlier Detection. New York: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Scharpf, Fritz. 1984. “Economic and Institutional Constraints on Full-Employment Strategies: Sweden, Austria, and West Germany, 1973–1982.” In Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism, ed. Goldthorpe, John H.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Schmitter, Philippe C. 1981. “Interest Intermediation and Regime Governability in Contemporary Western Europe and North America.” In Organizing Interests in Western Europe, ed. Berger, Suzanne D.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Soskice, David. 1990. “Wage Determination: The Changing Role of Institutions in Advanced Industrialized Countries.” Oxford Review of Economic Policy 6(no. 4): 36–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Streeck, Wolfgang. 1981. “Qualitative Demands and the Neo-corporatist Manageability of Industrial Relations.” British Journal of Industrial Relations 19:149–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Swenson, Peter. 1992. “Union Politics, the Welfare State, and Intraclass Conflict in Sweden and Germany.” In Bargaining for Change: Union Politics in North America and Europe, ed. Golden, Miriam and Pontusson, Jonas. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar

Thelen, Kathleen A. 1991. Union of Parts: Labor Politics in Postwar Germany. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar

Wallerstein, Michael. 1990. “Centralized Bargaining and Wage Restraint.” American Journal of Political Science 34:982–1004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Windmuller, John P. 1975. “The Authority of National Union Confederations: A Comparative Analysis.” In Union Power and Public Policy, ed. Lipsky, David B.. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar

Windmuller, John P. 1981. “Concentration Trends in Union Structure: An International Comparison.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 35:43–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar