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piqer for: Boom and bust Global finds
German economist with a sense of humor, not just relative to accountants. Chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform (CER), recently brexited to Berlin. Former fellow at The Economist, economics PhD at Stockholm University in Sweden. Christian covers European economics and integration and has, as a former Londoner, a pathological interest in the economics of real estate.
Union Membership Does Not Matter
One of the potential causes of rising income inequality is the bargaining power of labour. That has been a thesis for long, and the question is, of course, why does the bargaining power of labour differ across countries. Union membership is one metric that is used often to proxy bargaining power. But as this short but very informative text shows: it is not a good indicator:
Among 21 member countries of the OECD, the US is 20th in union density, coming ahead of only France. Interestingly, though, France is tied for first with Austria in collective bargaining coverage. On that measure, the US is last.
And how come that coverage is so different from union membership in countries like France? The text gives some answers on that, too. Do have a look.
