An Institutional Approach to Trade Union Density. The Case of Legal Origins and Political Ideology

Mean values of the trade union density in groups determined by the legal origins and the ideology of the head of the government (for the period 1995–2014).

Head of government
Legal origins	Centre	Left	Right
English	25.563	26.272	27.008
French	29.85	22.181	30.380
German	19.086	25.701	20.092
Scandinavian	34.998	66.181	60.281
Socialist	23.729	26.345	23.463

[i] Source: Author’s own calculations.

Tab. 2

Number of observations in each group

Group	Number of observations
Countries of English legal origin	98
Countries of socialist legal origin	94
Countries of German legal origin	96
Countries of French legal origin	150
Countries of Scandinavian legal origin	96
Countries with leftist ideology	190
Countries of rightist ideology	253
Countries of centrist ideology	91

[i] Source: Author’s own calculations.

Tab. 3

Two-way ANOVA

Source	Partial SS	Degrees of freedom	MS	F	Probability>F
model	100619.206	14	7187.08617	39.86	0.0000
legalorigins	57856.7897	4	14464.1974	80.22	0.0000
governmentideology	1768.76342	2	884.381712	4.90	0.0078
legalorigins # governmentideology	13755.8119	8	1719.47649	9.54	0.0000
residual	93577.3885	519	180.303253
Total	194196.595	533	364.346332
Number of observations	534
Root MSE	13.4277
R²	0.5181

[i] Source: Author’s own calculations.

Interactions between legal origins and government ideology Source: Author’s own calculations.

Tab. 4

Results of estimations

Independent variables	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII
scanlo	58.510**(25.68)	56.052**(27.85)	-	56.376**(28.96)	66.430**(25.92)	63.743**(32.34)	-
gerlo	4.011*(1.75)	3.348*(1.81)	16.761**(6.55)	-	16.371**(6.43)	4.314**(2.29)	-51.337**(-44.87)
frlo	15.182**(6.76)	11.815**(4.83)	13.255**(5.43)	11.465**(3.85)	-	12.893**(5.25)	-43.735**(-53.16)
englo	15.552**(5.78)	13.001**(5.88)	31.241**(10.58)	12.802**(4.81)	26.334**(8.69)	-	-43.968**(-29.13)
soclo	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
lag.centr_ideology	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
lag.left_ideology	1.769	0.688**	0.610*	0.645*	0.778**	1.141**	0 .352
	(1.25)	(2.09)	(1.68)	(1.87)	(2.33)	(2.25)	(1.22)
lag.right_ideology	1.958	0.420	0.273	0.396	0.268	0.807	0 .276
	(1.38)	(1.42)	(0.91)	(1.11)	(0.94)	(1.68)	(1.12)
wage	5.913	2.561	1.828	2.083	-1.366	5.962	0.684
	X10^(-4)**	X10^(-4)**	X10^(-4)**	X10^(-4)**	X10^(-4)**	X10^(-4)**	X10^(-4)*
	(7.20)	(5.25)	(2.06)	(2.98)	(-2.51)	(9.01)	(1.61)
female_proc	-0. 862**	-0.750**	-0.613**	-0.918**	-0.345*	-0.344**	-0.799**
	(-4. 41)	(-4.98)	(-4.44)	(-6.14)	(-1.73)	(-3.40)	(-6.05)
gdp_growth	0.101	-0.022	-0.041	-0.019	-0.031	-0.061	0.004
	(0.06)	(-0.62)	(-0.87)	(-0.47)	(-0.97)	(-0.96)	(0.29)
pop_growth	-1. 183	-0.050	0.221	-0.053	-0.031	0.140	0.059
	(-1.14)	(-0.27)	(1.29)	(-0.14)	(-0.21)	(0.60)	(0.54)
proc_industry	1.779**	0.954**	1.418**	0.991**	0.443**	2.093**	1.150**
	(12.43)	(6.20)	(7.53)	(6.75)	(2.87)	(14.06)	(6.07)
proc_services	-0.036	-0.264**	-0.443**	-0.170*	-0.819**	-0.472**	0. 321*
	(-0.29)	(-2.94)	(-7.03)	(-1.78)	(-6.97)	(-8.01)	(2.65)
unempl	0. 767	0.152**	0.224**	0.141**	0.301**	0.153**	0. 144**
	(3.73)	(2.75)	(3.65)	(2.13)	(4.24)	(2.28)	(4.69)
infl	0.714**	0.096*	0.189**	0.106*	0.081*	0.243**	-0.080**
	(3.35)	(1.85)	(3.06)	(1.94)	(1.65)	(3.13)	(-2.07)
constant	-	42.700**	33.947**	44.189**	80.021**	-	58.739**
	-	(5.43)	(3.40)	(4.98)	(6.91)	-	(5.76)
number of observations/ number of groups	445/-	445/27	327/23	394/23	303/19	369/22	342/21
R^2	0.9385	0.8142	0.7972	0.8196	0.8796	0.9660	0.8545
	F-statistic=	Wald $\begin{matrix} X_{14}^{2} \end{matrix}$ =	Wald $\begin{matrix} X_{13}^{2} \end{matrix}$ =	Wald $\begin{matrix} X_{13}^{2} \end{matrix}$ =	Wald $\begin{matrix} X_{13}^{2} \end{matrix}$ =	Wald $\begin{matrix} X_{13}^{2} \end{matrix}$ =	Wald $\begin{matrix} X_{13}^{2} \end{matrix}$ =
	469.67	22882.29	396.05	3290.84	5297.69	174291.43	4081.54

Values of t-statistic (in the case of pooled OLS regression) and z-statistic (in case of Prais-Winsten regression) in brackets.

I– Pooled OLS Regression, II – Prais-Winsten regression, correlated panels corrected standard errors, III – Prais-Winsten regression, correlated panels corrected standard errors (countries of Scandinavian legal origin excluded), IV – Prais-Winsten regression, correlated panels corrected standard errors (countries of German legal origin excluded), V – Prais-Winsten regression, correlated panels corrected standard errors (countries of French legal origin excluded), VI – Prais-Winsten regression, correlated panels corrected standard errors (countries of English legal origin excluded), VII – Prais-Winsten regression, correlated panels corrected standard errors (countries of socialist legal origin excluded).

Source: Authors’ own calculations.

** Significant at 5% level.

* Significant at 10% level.

** Significant at 10% level.

* Significant at 10% level.

** Significant at 10% level.

* Significant at 10% level.

** Significant at 10% level.

* Significant at 10% level.

** Significant at 10% level.

* Significant at 10% level.

** Significant at 10% level.

* Significant at 10% level.

** Significant at 10% level.

* Significant at 10% level.

** Significant at 10% level.

* Significant at 10% level.

** Significant at 10% level.

Tab. A

Description and sources of variables

VARIABLE	DESCRIPTION	SOURCE
centr_ideology	A binary variable, it takes the value 1 for the ideological orientation of the head of government - CENTER (i.e., various centrist ideologies, especially social liberalism). Missing data have been imputed by authors on the basis of available political parties’ programmes.	Brambor T, Lindvall J and Stjernquist A (2014) The Ideology of Heads of Government (HOG), 1870-2012. Sweden: Department of Political Science, Lund University.

englo	A binary variable, for the country of English legal origin it takes the value 1	La Porta R, Lopez-de-Silanes F, Shleifer A and Vishny R (1999) The Quality of Government. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15: 222-279.

female_proc	Percentage of female workers in the labour force	OECD.Stat, Dataset: LFS

frlo	A binary variable. For the country of French legal origin it takes the value of 1.	La Porta R, Lopez-de-Silanes F, Shleifer A and Vishny R (1999) The Quality of Government. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15: 222-279.

gdp_growth	Annual percentage growth rate of GDP at market prices based on constant local currency	World Development Indicators, Wold Bank

gerlo	A binary variable. For the country of German legal origin it takes the value of 1	La Porta R, Lopez-de-Silanes F, Shleifer A and Vishny R (1999) The Quality of Government. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15: 222-279.

infl	Inflation as measured by the consumer price index.	World Development Indicators, Wold Bank

left_ideology	A binary variable. It takes the value of 1 for the ideological orientation of the head of government - LEFT (i.e., communist, socialist, social democratic, or with an otherwise strongly redistributive platform). Missing data have been imputed by the authors on the basis of available political parties’ programmes.	Brambor T, Lindvall J and Stjernquist A (2014) The Ideology of Heads of Government (HOG), 1870-2012. Sweden: Department of Political Science, Lund University.

pop_growth	Population growth (annual %).	World Development Indicators, Wold Bank

proc_industry	Employment in industry (including energy) as a percentage of total employment.	OECD.Stat, Dataset: LFS

proc_services	Employment in the services sector as a percentage of total employment.	OECD.Stat, Dataset: LFS

right_ideology	A binary variable. It takes the value of 1 for the ideological orientation of the head of government - RIGHT (i.e., conservative, Christian democratic, market-liberal). Missing data have been imputed by the authors on the basis of available political parties’ programmes.	Brambor T, Lindvall J and Stjernquist A (2014) The Ideology of Heads of Government (HOG), 1870-2012. Sweden: Department of Political Science, Lund University.

scanlo	A binary variable. For a country of Scandinavian legal origin it takes the value of 1.	La Porta R, Lopez-de-Silanes F, Shleifer A and Vishny R (1999) The Quality of Government. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15: 222-279.

soclo	A binary variable. For the country of socialist legal origin it takes the value of 1.	La Porta R, Lopez-de-Silanes F, Shleifer A and Vishny R (1999) The Quality of Government. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15: 222-279.

trade_density	trade union density defined as the ratio of wage and salary earners that are trade union members divided by the total number of wage and salary earners.	OECD.Stat, Dataset: LFS

unempl	Unemployment, total (% of total labour force)	World Development Indicators, Wold Bank

wage	Average annual wages in 2015; constant prices at 2015 USD PPPs.	OECD.Stat, Dataset: LFS

[i] Source: Authors’ own calculations.

Tab. B

Description and sources of variables

Variable		Mean	Standard deviation	Min	Max	Number of observations
trade_density	overall	31.26239	19.08786	5.654338	83.13813	N= 534

	between		18.6396	7.901695	74.92628	n= 28

	within		5.148027	16.77425	60.6157	T= 19.0714

wage	overall	35584.39	11602.42	8571	60196	N= 550

	between		11327.89	15155.2	54698.5	n= 28

	within		3048.24	26301.74	45284.74	T-bar= 19.6429

female_proc	overall	44.55367	2.75064	36.06719	50.85168	N= 560

	between		2.508818	39.59661	49.14098	n= 28

	within		1.218928	39.32568	48.80525	T= 20

gdp_growth	overall	2.414583	2.911034	-14.7244	11.7986	N= 558

	between		1.11048	0.5949518	4.616528	n= 28

	within		2.69923	-16.71889	9.791065	T-bar= 19.9286

pop_grow	overall	0.5135072	0.6639038	-1.7854	2.89096	N= 560

	between		0.5701864	-0.533331	2.099166	n= 28

	within		0.3559581	-1.149776	2.694526	T= 20

proc_industry	overall	17.74659	5.480131	9.164394	32.67896	N= 522

	between		5.124759	11.21641	29.72359	n= 28

	within		1.909545	13.24477	23.42335	T-bar= 18.6429

proc_services	overall	77.00743	8.023138	53.31408	89.66506	N= 502

	between		7.582936	61.3635	86.41893	n= 27

	within		2.956174	67.56668	83.43613	T-bar= 18.6429

unempl	overall	7.789464	4.146086	1.8	27.2	N= 560

	between		3.369221	3.64	16.74	n= 28

	within		2.494837	-.5505362	22.24946	T= 20

infl	overall	2.907487	3.920998	-4.479938	28.77661	N= 560

	between		1.910132	0.080999	8.574297	n= 28

	within		2.823246	-5.889125	25.1058	T= 20

[i] Source: Authors’ own calculations.

Tab. C

Descriptive statistics of discrete variables

		Overall	Between
Variable	Value	Frequency	Percentage	Frequency	Percentage
socio	0	440	78.57	22	78.57

	1	120	21.43	6	21.43

scanlo	0	479	85.69	24	85.71

	1	80	14.31	4	14.29

frlo	0	400	71.43	20	71.43

	1	160	28.57	8	28.57

englo	0	460	82.14	23	82.14

	1	100	17.86	5	17.86

gerio	0	460	82.14	23	82.14

	1	100	17.86	5	17.86

centr_ideology	0	464	82.86

	1	96	17.14

left_ideology	0	361	64.46

	1	199	35.54

right_ideology	0	295	52.68

	1	265	47.32

[i] Source: Authors’ own calculations.

References

Authors

Metrics

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ceej-2017-0008 | Journal eISSN: 2543-6821 | Journal ISSN: 2544-9001

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 35 - 49

Published on: Mar 21, 2018

Published by: Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

JEL:

J51,

K40,

P16

Related subjects:

Business and economics,

Political economics,

Economic theory, systems and structures,

Microeconomics,

Macroeconomics,

Economic policy

© 2018 Jacek Lewkowicz, Anna Lewczuk, published by Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 2 (2017): Issue 49 (December 2017)

An Institutional Approach to Trade Union Density. The Case of Legal Origins and Political Ideology

Figures & Tables

Tab. 1

Tab. 2

Tab. 3

Fig. 1

Tab. 4

Tab. A

Tab. B

Tab. C

Paradigm

My account