Abstract
The determinants of the extent of union membership, industry concentration, and the innovation output of large firms and small firms are examined in a simultaneous-equations model. Data for 246 U.S. manufacturing industries are used to determine: (1) that there are significant interdependencies among these endogenous variables; (2) that contrary to recent findings, unionization is significantly lower in industries with high concentration and high innovation output; and (3) that although high unionization modestly reduces small-firm innovation output (as compared with large-firm innovation output), there is not a large difference in the effects of small-firm and large-firm innovation output on the extent of union membership across industries.
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I am grateful to John W. Ballantine for his comments on this study.
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Koeller, C.T. Union membership, market structure, and the innovation output of large and small firms. Journal of Labor Research 17, 683–699 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685807
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685807