IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpla/0506005.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Right-to-Work Laws Affect Wages

Author

Listed:
  • W. Robert Reed

    (University of Oklahoma)

Abstract

I examine the wage effects of Right-To-Work (RTW). Using state-level data, I estimate that, ceteris paribus, RTW states have average wages that are significantly higher than non-RTW states. This result is robust is across a wide variety of specifications. An important distinctive of this study is that it controls for state economic conditions at the time states adopted RTW. States that adopted RTW were generally poorer than other states. Failure to control for these initial conditions may be the reason that previous studies have not identified a positive wage impact for RTW.

Suggested Citation

  • W. Robert Reed, 2005. "How Right-to-Work Laws Affect Wages," Labor and Demography 0506005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpla:0506005
    Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 31. This paper was published in the Journal of Labor Research, Vol. 24, No. 4 (2003): 713-730.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/lab/papers/0506/0506005.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Neumark & Michael L. Wachter, 1995. "Union Effects on Nonunion Wages: Evidence from Panel Data on Industries and Cities," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 49(1), pages 20-38, October.
    2. Thomas J. Holmes, 1998. "The Effect of State Policies on the Location of Manufacturing: Evidence from State Borders," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 667-705, August.
    3. William J. Moore & Robert J. Newman, 1985. "The Effects of Right-to-Work Laws: A Review of the Literature," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 38(4), pages 571-585, July.
    4. Henry S. Farber, 1983. "Right-to-Work Laws and the Extent of Unionization," NBER Working Papers 1136, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Farber, Henry S, 1984. "Right-to-Work Laws and the Extent of Unionization," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(3), pages 319-352, July.
    6. Robert Tannenwald, 1997. "State regulatory policy and economic development," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Mar, pages 83-108.
    7. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-338, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Right-to-Work Gives Michigan Workers a Choice
      by James Sherk in The Foundry on 2012-12-17 23:31:58

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Kyung-nok Chun, 2023. "What do Right-to-Work Laws do to Unions? Evidence from Six Recently-Enacted RTW Laws," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 94-144, June.
    2. Das, Biswa & Skidmore, Mark, 2018. "Asymmetry in Muncipal Government Responses in Growing versus Shrinking Counties with Focus on Capital Spending," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 48(4), October.
    3. Stevans, Lonnie, 2007. "The Effect of Right-to-Work Laws on Business and Economic Conditions: A Multivariate Approach," MPRA Paper 5638, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Tessa Conroy & Steven Deller & Alexandra Tsvetkova, 2017. "Interstate Relocation Of Manufacturers And Business Climate," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 18-45, March.
    5. Mark Skidmore & William Dyar, 2015. "Diminishing Health, Rising Health Care Costs and Long-run Growth in Local Government Spending," CESifo Working Paper Series 5646, CESifo.
    6. Jordan Jeffrey & Mathur Aparna & Munasib Abdul & Roy Devesh, 2021. "Did Right-To-Work Laws Impact Income Inequality? Evidence from U.S. States Using the Synthetic Control Method," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 45-81, January.
    7. Gihleb, Rania & Giuntella, Osea & Tan, Jian Qi, 2023. "The Impact of Right-to-Work Laws on Long Hours and Work Schedules," IZA Discussion Papers 16588, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Nguyen, Justin Hung & Qiu, Buhui, 2022. "Right-to-Work laws and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Stevans Lonnie K, 2009. "The Effect of Endogenous Right-to-Work Laws on Business and Economic Conditions in the United States: A Multivariate Approach," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 595-614, October.
    10. M. Rodwan Abouharb & Benjamin O. Fordham, 2020. "Trade and Strike Activity in the Postwar United States," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-25, October.
    11. Michael J. Hicks & Michael LaFaive & Srikant Devaraj, 2016. "New Evidence on the Effect of Right-to-Work Laws on Productivity and Population Growth," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 36(1), pages 101-120, Winter.
    12. Cebula, Richard J. & Connaughton, John E. & Swartz , Caroline, 2020. "Right-to-Work Laws as Economic Freedom: Their Role in Influencing the Geographic Pattern of Manufacturing Jobs, Incomes, and Finances," American Business Review, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, vol. 23(2), pages 431-450, November.
    13. Melo, Vitor & Sigaud, Liam, 2024. "Right-to-Work Laws and Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Working Papers 12375, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.

    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. Chava, Sudheer & Danis, András & Hsu, Alex, 2020. "The economic impact of right-to-work laws: Evidence from collective bargaining agreements and corporate policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(2), pages 451-469.
    2. Kyung-nok Chun, 2023. "What do Right-to-Work Laws do to Unions? Evidence from Six Recently-Enacted RTW Laws," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 94-144, June.
    3. Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon & Henry G. Overman, 2011. "Assessing the Effects of Local Taxation using Microgeographic Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(555), pages 1017-1046, September.
    4. Jaime Saavedra-Chanduví & Máximo Torero, 2002. "Union Density Changes and Union Effects On Firm Performance in Peru," Research Department Publications 3158, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    5. Pamela Blumenthal & Harold L. Wolman & Edward Hill, 2009. "Understanding the Economic Performance of Metropolitan Areas in the United States," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(3), pages 605-627, March.
    6. Rosenzweig, Mark R. & Wolpin, Kenneth I., 1988. "Migration selectivity and the effects of public programs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 265-289, December.
    7. Jed Kolko & David Neumark & Marisol Cuellar Mejia, 2013. "What Do Business Climate Indexes Teach Us About State Policy And Economic Growth?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 220-255, May.
    8. William T. Dickens & Lawrence F. Katz, 1987. "Inter-Industry Wage Differences and Theories of Wage Determination," NBER Working Papers 2271, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Henry S. Farber, 1987. "The Evolution of Public Sector Bargaining Laws," NBER Working Papers 2361, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Klein, Alexander, 2023. "From the Manufacturing Belt to the Rust Belt. Spatial Inequalities in the United States: An Interdisciplinary Literature Review," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 657, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    11. Bernt Bratsberg & James F. Ragan Jr., 2002. "Changes in the Union Wage Premium by Industry," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(1), pages 65-83, October.
    12. Joseph Tracy, 1988. "Comparisons Between Public and Private Sector Union Wage Differentials: Does the Legal Environment Matter?," NBER Working Papers 2755, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Budd, John W & Na, In-Gang, 2000. "The Union Membership Wage Premium for Employees Covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(4), pages 783-807, October.
    14. Xiaoyang Li, 2012. "Workers, Unions, and Takeovers," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 443-460, December.
    15. Silke Januszewski Forbes & Mara Lederman, 2009. "Adaptation and Vertical Integration in the Airline Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1831-1849, December.
    16. Bernd Fitzenberger & Karsten Kohn & Alexander C. Lembcke, 2013. "Union Density and Varieties of Coverage: The Anatomy of Union Wage Effects in Germany," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(1), pages 169-197, January.
    17. repec:rre:publsh:v:34:y:2004:i:1:p:95-111 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Emin M. Dinlersoz & Ruben Hernandez-Murillo, 2002. "Did \\"right-to-work\\" work for Idaho?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 84(May), pages 29-42.
    19. Arturo, Ramirez Verdugo, 2004. "Dividend Signaling and Unions," MPRA Paper 2273, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Oct 2006.
    20. Bruce G. Carruthers & Naomi R. Lamoreaux, 2016. "Regulatory Races: The Effects of Jurisdictional Competition on Regulatory Standards," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 52-97, March.
    21. Maria De Paola & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2010. "Peer group effects on the academic performance of Italian students," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(17), pages 2203-2215.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Right-to-Work;

    JEL classification:

    • J - Labor and Demographic Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wpa:wuwpla:0506005. 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: EconWPA (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de .

    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.