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UK Unionism and Innovative Activity: Some Cautionary Remarks on the Basis of a Simple Cross‐country Test
Author(s) -
Addison John T.,
Wagner Joachim
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.1994.tb01131.x
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , stylized fact , simple (philosophy) , investment (military) , german , test (biology) , economics , relation (database) , capital (architecture) , representation (politics) , human capital , classical economics , econometrics , political science , market economy , macroeconomics , law , geography , biology , philosophy , epistemology , computer science , paleontology , archaeology , database , politics , programming language
: This paper offers a preliminary investigation of union impact on investment in intangible capital. We first report evidence on the raw correlation between union membership density and R&D intensity. This suggests that higher union density is associated with increased innovative activity among an important subset of British industry. Attention then shifts to a consideration of whether the ‘stylized facts’ are indicative of a causal relation or are instead an artefact produced by the concentration of unions in those sectors evincing greater scope for R&D. We offer a simple cross‐country test in which German R&D outlays serve as the benchmark or comparator. No support is adduced for the notion that unions cause higher R&D.