Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is certainly popular. Indeed, my search for something comparable took me back more than 120 years. Even with the uncertainty about what constitutes a best seller, it is clear that the...

The U.S. and Canadian economies have much in common, including similar collective bargaining structures. During the period 1981-88, however, although both countries witnessed a decline in the percentage of workers belonging to unions and an increase in hourly wage inequality, those changes were...

The U.S. and Canadian economies have much in common, including similar collective bargaining structures. During the period 1981–88, however, although both countries witnessed a decline in the percentage of workers belonging to unions and an increase in hourly wage inequality, those...

This paper provides evidence that the decline in the real value of the minimum wage and in the rate of unionization account for a significant share of the increase in wage inequality in the United States between 1979 and 1988. The role of the minimum wage is particularly important for women,...

We examine the relationship between the employment and compensation of managers and CEOs and the presence of a unionized workforce. We develop a simple efficiency wage model, with a tradeoff between higher wages for workers and more monitoring, which requires more managers. The model also...

During the past two decades, union density has declined in the United States and employer provision of health benefits has changed substantially in extent and form. Using individual survey data spanning the years 1983-97 combined with employer survey data for 1993, the authors update and extend...