Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/20198 
Year of Publication: 
2003
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 962
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In the absence of closed-shops and discriminatory wage policies, union membership can be explained by the existence of social norms. We describe a model, incorporating institutional features of the German labour market, which explicitly allows for social custom effects in the determination of union membership. Using panel data for Germany, we find evidence for according effects which restrict freeriding. The impact of social norms tends to increase with net union density. Hence, observed reductions in the demand for union membership can weaken the impact of a norm and accentuate the free-rider problem.
Subjects: 
Germany
norms
social custom
trade union membership
JEL: 
J51
D71
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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