IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v63y1987i1p46-60.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Empirical Analysis of Australian Strike Activity: Estimating the Industrial Relations Effect of the First Three Years of the Prices and Incomes Accord

Author

Listed:
  • JOHN J. BEGGS
  • BRUCE J. CHAPMAN

Abstract

Australian strike activity war relatively low in the 1983(2)‐1986(1) period. Some part of this experience is attributable to changes in the macroeconomic environment and some is a consequence of improvements in industrial relations. This paper attempts to determine the role of each by estimating econometric models for the 1959(3)‐1983(1) period and forecasting indicators of strike activity over the subsequent three years. We find that working days lost per unionist decreased because of macroeconomic conditions, but that these variables explain less than half of the actual decline. This suggests that, for the initial three‐year period of its institution, the Accord helped deliver a favorable industrial relations environment, a situation that is not necessarily long‐lasting. More generally, the results show strike activity to be pro‐cyclical and influenced by profits and inflation.

Suggested Citation

  • John J. Beggs & Bruce J. Chapman, 1987. "An Empirical Analysis of Australian Strike Activity: Estimating the Industrial Relations Effect of the First Three Years of the Prices and Incomes Accord," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 63(1), pages 46-60, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:63:y:1987:i:1:p:46-60
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4932.1987.tb00636.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.1987.tb00636.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1475-4932.1987.tb00636.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chapman, B.J., 1986. "Wage Policy Perspectives on the Accord," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17.
    2. Hayes, Beth, 1984. "Unions and Strikes with Asymmetric Information," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(1), pages 57-83, January.
    3. Albert Rees, 1952. "Industrial Conflict and Business Fluctuations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(5), pages 371-371.
    4. Perry, L J, 1979. "Inter-War Wage Movements and Trade Union Militancy in Australia," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(33), pages 229-242, December.
    5. repec:bla:ecorec:v:53:y:1977:i:142&143:p:297-319 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Bentley, Philip & Hughes, Barry, 1970. "Cyclical Influences on Strike Activity: The Australian Record 1952-68," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(15), pages 149-170, December.
    7. A. J. Phipps, 1977. "Strike Activity and Inflation in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 53(3), pages 297-319, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paul Miller & Charles Mulvey, 1993. "What Do Australian Unions Do?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 69(3), pages 315-342, September.
    2. James McDonald & Harry Bloch, 1999. "The Spillover Effects of Industrial Action on Firm Profitability," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 15(2), pages 183-200, September.
    3. John J. Beggs & Bruce J. Chapman, 1987. "Declining Strike Activity in Australia 1983–85: An International Phenomenon?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 63(4), pages 330-339, December.
    4. Peter Cook, 1992. "The Labor Government's Industrial Relations Policy: Flexibility with Equity," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 3(1), pages 112-125, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruce J. Chapman, 1988. "Some Observations on Wage-Setting Practices in The Australian Labour Market System," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 13(2), pages 161-175, December.
    2. John J. Beggs & Bruce J. Chapman, 1987. "Declining Strike Activity in Australia 1983–85: An International Phenomenon?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 63(4), pages 330-339, December.
    3. L. J. Perry, 2005. "A Long-Term Perspective On Industrial Disputes In Australia: 1913–2003," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 24(3), pages 263-279, September.
    4. Allan Fels & Tran Van Hoa, 1981. "Causal Relationships in Australian Wage Inflation and Minimum Award Rates," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 57(1), pages 23-34, March.
    5. Gary-Bobo, Robert J. & Jaaidane, Touria, 2014. "Strikes and slowdown in a theory of relational contracts," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 89-116.
    6. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:1091-1137 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Alberto Vesperoni & Anıl Yıldızparlak, 2019. "Inequality and conflict outbreak," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 53(1), pages 135-173, June.
    8. Belloc, Filippo, 2021. "Industrial actions and firing regimes: How deregulating worker “Exit” reshapes worker “Voice”," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 251-264.
    9. Gary-Bobo, Robert J. & Jaaidane, Touria, 2008. "Strikes as the 'Tip of the Iceberg' in a Theory of Firm-Union Cooperation," CEPR Discussion Papers 6644, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Meenu Saihjpal, 2016. "An Econometric Exploration into the Determinants of Industrial Disputes in Indian Manufacturing Industries," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 41(2), pages 107-126, May.
    11. Card, David & Olson, Craig A, 1995. "Bargaining Power, Strike Durations, and Wage Outcomes: An Analysis of Strikes in the 1880s," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(1), pages 32-61, January.
    12. Marco de Pinto & Jörg Lingens, 2019. "Unionization, information asymmetry and the de‐location of firms," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(4), pages 1782-1823, November.
    13. Tournadre, Fabienne & Villeval, Marie-Claire, 2004. "Learning from strikes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 243-264, April.
    14. Goerke, Laszlo & Schnabel, Claus, 2002. "On strike insurance," Discussion Papers 12, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    15. John T. King & Mark A. Yanochik, 2011. "John Stuart Mill and The Economic Rationale for Organized Labor," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 56(2), pages 28-34, November.
    16. Joseph S. Tracy, 1988. "Testing Strategic Bargaining Models Using Stock Market Data," NBER Working Papers 2754, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2011. "The Economics of Destructive Power," Chapters, in: Derek L. Braddon & Keith Hartley (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Conflict, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Timothy Besley, 2013. "Implementation of Anti-Discrimination Policy: Does Judicial Selection Matter?," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 15(1), pages 212-251.
    19. Kyung nok Chun & Zachary Schaller & Stergios Skaperdas, 2020. "Why Are There Strikes?," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 130(6), pages 929-956.
    20. Tracy, Joseph S, 1987. "An Empirical Test of an Asymmetric Information Model of Strikes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(2), pages 149-173, April.
    21. Kennan, John, 1995. "Repeated contract negotiations with private information," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 447-472, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:63:y:1987:i:1:p:46-60. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.