Word: freeman
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Harvard economists have challenged the common prejudices against unions and, contrary even to the trend in their profession, come out in defense of the controversial organizations. After eight years of research and with the use of an unusually extensive amount of empirical data, Professor of Economics Richard B. Freeman and Associate Professor of Economics James L. Medoff conclude that, far from being the sources of inefficiency, unions actually have a positive effect on the economy and on American Society as a whole...
Their findings fly in the face of most of the current arguments against unions and against the attitudes of industry management. In the course of their research, which took nearly eight years, Freeman and Medoff, both of whom are affiliated with the Cambridge-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), ported over countless government records on industry and personal histories of union members. Finally, they came up with the overwhelming verdict that unions are worth rescuing...
...book stresses what the authors call the "two faces of unionism." While conceding that unions do in fact act like a monopoly in restricting the labor supply. Freeman and Medoff argue that unions are also socially and economically valuable for three reasons. First, because unions give workers a voice and establish grievance procedures, turnover rates in unionized workplaces are far lower than in non-unionized ones. This spares firms the cost of constantly hiring and retraining new workers to replace the disgruntled ones who have left. Therefore, unions are actually productive. In addition, because unions raise wages, management must find...
...what about the infamous corruption traditionally associated with unions? The authors claim that its prevalence is simply exaggerated. "There are more crooked businessmen than union members," says Freeman. Both he and Medoff, who describe themselves "in their 30s," say that the extortionate behavior of unions is isolated and overpublicized, what matters to unions members, they say, is how democratic their local unions is--and this can usually be measured by the amount of turnover among elected officials. "We found that at local unions there was a great amount of democracy. People usually point to the lack of turnover...
...Freeman Dyson's Weapons and Hope does not answer all the problems raised by nuclear weapons, but neither is it simply another eloquent discussion of the horrifying situation the world is in. Though it is beautifully written (and many similar studies are not), it is also one of the best presentations of the roots and magnitude of the problem of moving the world away from the brink. Combined, Dyson's erudition and realism lead him to an approach which may represent a true step towards a world in which nuclear weapons are not just absent, but also unnecessary, unwanted...