With or Without U? Testing the Hypothesis of an Inverted U-Shaped Union Membership-Age Relationship

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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.
Original languageEnglish
JournalContemporary Economics
Volume6
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)28-34
Number of pages7
ISSN2084-0845
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 07.12.2012

    Research areas

  • Economics - age, Germany, Inverted u-shape, Unionisation

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