Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/155604 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 6362
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
This paper proposes an explanation of why union membership has been increasing in some occupations, despite the opportunity to freeride on traditional union benefits. I model membership as legal insurance whose demand increases with the perceived risk of allegations. Using media reports on allegations against teachers as shocks to perceived risk, I find for every five reports occurring in a region, teachers are 2.5 percentage points more likely to be members in the subsequent year. These effects are larger when teachers share characteristics with the news story and explain 45 percent of the growth in teacher union membership since 1992.
Subjects: 
unions
teachers
media
insurance
JEL: 
J51
J45
J32
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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