Estimados/as Académicos/as,

Les extendemos la invitación al seminario que organiza el Departamento de Economía, en el que se presentará el trabajo titulado "What do (Thousands of) Union do? Union-Specific Pay Premia and Inequality".

Expone: Lorenzo Lagos, Profesor Asistente, Brown University.

Coautores: Ellora Derenoncourt, François Gerard y Claire Montialoux.

Abstract: We study the role of union heterogeneity in shaping wages and inequality among unionized workers. Using linked employer-employee data from Brazil and job moves both within and across multi-firm unions, we estimate over 4,800 union-specific pay premia. Unions differ substantially in the wage gains they can secure for workers, with a standard deviation of 7 log points. These union-specific pay premia vary in systematic ways. We find that unions with local representation, firm-level collective bargaining agreements, strike activity, collective governance, and skilled leaders capture higher pay premia. These same high-premium unions are also effective in other dimensions—like reducing exit and improving amenity take-up—and compress wages. A nationwide right-to-work reform causes wages to fall by 2.4% in markets dominated by high-premium unions and reveals that worker support for unions remains for high-premium unions that do not compress too much. Our findings show that unions are not a monolith---their structure and actions shape their wage effects, their equalizing role, and ultimately their support among workers.

El formato será presencial en la sala P-303.

Saludos cordiales,

Dirección de Investigación