October 2017

IZA DP No. 11111: Union Density, Productivity and Wages

published in: Economic Journal, 2020, 130 (631), 1898 - 1936

We exploit tax-induced exogenous variance in the price of union membership to identify the effects of changes in firm union density on firm productivity and wages in the population of Norwegian firms over the period 2001 to 2012. Increases in union density lead to substantial increases in firm productivity and wages having accounted for the potential endogeneity of unionization. The wage effect is larger in more productive firms, consistent with rent-sharing models.