In this study a model of the determination of individual votes in National Labor Relations Board representation elections was developed and estimated. The major conclusions fall into four areas. First, the perceived advantage of unionization is inversely related to the individual's position in the intrafirm earnings distribution. Second, explicitly measured perceptions of the impact of unionization on the nonwage aspects of the job are important determinants of the vote. Third, concern for the impact of unionization on job security is an important aspect of the unionization decision. Finally, it was found that after controlling for the effects of unionization on various aspects of the employment relationship, blacks are more likely and older workers are less likely to vote for unionization.
In this study a model of the determination of individual votes in National Labor Relations Board representation elections was developed and estimated. The major conclusions fall into four areas. First, the perceived advantage of unionization is inversely related to the individual's position in the intrafirm earnings distribution. Second, explicitly measured perceptions of the impact of unionization on the nonwage aspects of the job are important determinants of the vote. Third, concern for the impact of unionization on job security is an important aspect of the unionization decision. Finally, it was found that after controlling for the effects of unionization on various aspects of the employment relationship, blacks are more likely and older workers are less likely to vote for unionization.
Do school inputs matter? Regression analysis of Michigan Assessment Survey Program data (1971) shows inputs are productive, but only under our new criteria. Many previous economic studies have concluded that school inputs do not matter because mean school output is often uncorrelated with input variations. But if every student's performance matters to a school, then productive inputs affect the entire distribution of student performances. If that distribution can be characterized by its mean and variance, then inputs are productive if either moment is affected. One cannot, however, tell how much these distributional effects depend on technology and how much on tastes of school authorities