Gewerkschaften sind zentrale politische Akteure in Demokratisierungsprozessen und in etablierten Demokratien. Doch während in den Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften seit vielen Jahren eine lebhafte Debatte über die Neuen Sozialen Bewegungen, NGOs und außerparlamentarische...

Can public policy interfere with culture, such as beliefs and norms of cooperation? We investigate his question by evaluating the interactions between the State and the Civil Society, focusing on the labor market. International data shows a negative correlation between union density and the...

This study provides the first nation-wide analysis of the labor market implications of occupational licensing for the U.S. labor market, using data from a specially designed Gallup survey. We find that in 2006, 29 percent of the workforce was required to hold an occupational license from a...

This paper investigates the demise of unionisation in British private sector workplaces over the last quarter century. We show that dramatic union decline has occurred across all types of workplace. Although the union wage premium persists it is quite small in 2004. Negative union effects on...

For a number of OECD countries, the deterioration of labour market outcomes for less-skilled workers since the early 1980's has coincided with a steady decline in union membership. Globalisation is commonly believed to have contributed to both developments. However, recent studies fail to find...

Die vorliegende Studie wurde im ifo Forschungsbereich "Sozialpolitik und Arbeitsmärkte" in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Sozialrecht, München, erstellt und im Februar 2007 abgeschlossen. Sie entstand im Auftrag des Ministeriums für Arbeit,...