We present a model of the legislature as a union, where in some states the legislative wage is set in the constitution (the analogue to competition) and in others it is set by the legislators (monopoly). We test the implications of the model with respect to relative legislator wages in the two types of states and with respect to other aspects of the legislature as a union. All of the implications hold up quite well in empirical tests. Indeed, as expected, we find an astonishingly large impact of the legislative union on relative wages, that is, on the order of a 225 percent increase.

We present a model of the legislature as a union, where in some states the legislative wage is set in the constitution (the analogue to competition) and in others it is set by the legislators (monopoly). We test the implications of the model with respect to relative legislator wages in the two types of states and with respect to other aspects of the legislature as a union. All of the implications hold up quite well in empirical tests. Indeed, as expected, we find an astonishingly large impact of the legislative union on relative wages, that is, on the order of a 225 percent increase.