This paper studies the effect of labor relations on product quality. We consider whether a
long, contentious strike and the hiring of permanent replacement workers by
Bridgestone/Firestone in the mid-1990s contributed to the production of an excess
number of defective…

Some argue that a high union wage premium and the industrial council system are important causes
of inflexibility in the South African labor market. We estimate union premia on the order of 20 percent for
African workers and 10 percent…