Richard B. Freeman (1) (1943–)

This is an interesting book in a couple of ways. It was published in 1984, and in the final section of the book the authors offer a prescient perspective on the future of labour unions in the United States: "If these patterns continue, the American labour movement will experience a precipitous decline in the next decade". In the very last paragraph of the book, they write "the ongoing decline in private sector unionism (...) deserves serious attention as being socially undesireable". It's safe to say that the predicted precipitous decline indeed occurred and it would not be a big stretch to assume that it has resulted in greater income disparity. So despite being almost 40 years old by now, this intelligent debate over the benefits and disadvantages of unions should be of interest to Americans even today.

The second reason why this book is worth reading is that it is a prime example of simple, clear and analytic argumentation. Some of the presented research is the authors' own, but they also summarize findings by other researchers across the board. They state their questions and conclusions briefly but don't belabor their points - people who are interested in the details can look up the original sources. They cover a wide range of interesting questions and approach them in a neutral and epistemically humble manner. Sometimes the research facts speak in favour of unionism, sometimes they don't, sometimes the pros and cons can't really be compared, and sometimes no secure facts can be established. All in all, reading this book makes you wish that other societal debates could also be discussed and debated in this exemplary manner.… (més)