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The Ecology of Organizational Founding: American Labor Unions, 1836-1985
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1987
Year
Labor RelationLawUnited StatesEconomic HistoryIndustrial OrganizationFederal Labor RelationsIndustrial RelationProductivityLabour StudyManagementCollective BargainingEconomic AnalysisAmerican Labor UnionsEconomicsNational Labor UnionsLabor RelationsLabor Force TrendLabor EconomicsBusiness HistoryWorkforce DevelopmentBusinessLabor UnionsLabor LawCraft UnionsUnemployment
The study examines the founding rate of U.S. national labor unions from 1836 to 1985, focusing on how competitive dynamics and environmental factors influence that rate. The authors estimate several stochastic models that capture different ecological assumptions about union founding processes.
This paper analyzes the founding rate of national labor unions in the United States for the period 1836-1985. It investigates the effects of competitive processes and environmental effects on this rate. A number of stochastics models embodying different assumptions about the ecology of foundings are estimated. The best-fitting models posit that the effect of density (the number of unions in existence) and the number of recent foundings on the foundig rate is curvilinear. Analysis of more complicated models reveals that the growth of industrial unions inhibited the founding rate of craft unions. However, the founding rate of industrial unions was unaffected by the number of craft unions in existence.