This paper reviews the several studies that have assessed the impact of right-to-work (RTW) laws on union membership, wages, and industry location. The authors show that the considerable difference in findings among these studies results largely from whether a study treats the presence or absence of an RTW law as an exogenous variable or one jointly endogenous with the extent of unionism in a state. Studies using the latter approach, which the authors believe preferable, have primarily concluded that the effects of RTW laws are more symbolic than substantive.
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