TY - JOUR

T1 - With or Without U?

T2 - Testing the Hypothesis of an Inverted U-Shaped Union Membership-Age Relationship

AU - Wagner, Joachim

AU - Schnabel, Claus

PY - 2012/12/7

Y1 - 2012/12/7

N2 - In this note, we apply a new test by Lind and Mehlum (2010), casting doubt on the claim proposed by Blanchflower (2007) that the probability of unionisation follows an inverted U-shaped pattern in age with a maximum in the mid- to late 40s. With this new test for an inverted U-shaped pattern, which has not been applied to the age-membership nexus before, and by constructing exact confidence intervals for the maximum value, we demonstrate that - at least with respect to West Germany - Blanchflower's hypothesis does not hold. Our findings suggest that more definitive evidence is need- ed before the existence of international unionisation-age patterns can be taken for granted.

AB - In this note, we apply a new test by Lind and Mehlum (2010), casting doubt on the claim proposed by Blanchflower (2007) that the probability of unionisation follows an inverted U-shaped pattern in age with a maximum in the mid- to late 40s. With this new test for an inverted U-shaped pattern, which has not been applied to the age-membership nexus before, and by constructing exact confidence intervals for the maximum value, we demonstrate that - at least with respect to West Germany - Blanchflower's hypothesis does not hold. Our findings suggest that more definitive evidence is need- ed before the existence of international unionisation-age patterns can be taken for granted.

KW - Economics

KW - age

KW - Germany

KW - Inverted u-shape

KW - Unionisation

U2 - 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.65

DO - 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.65

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 6

SP - 28

EP - 34

JO - Contemporary Economics

JF - Contemporary Economics

SN - 2084-0845

IS - 4

ER -