Skip to main content
Log in

Measurement Error and the Effects of Unions on the Compensating Differentials for Fatal Workplace Risks

  • Published:
Journal of Risk and Uncertainty Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With essentially the same estimation methods and time period but using different UK data sets and risk measures, Sandy and Elliott (1996) found that nonunion male manual workers had a substantially higher fatal risk premium than union workers while Siebert and Wei (1994) found the opposite. This paper attempts to reconcile these conflicting results using the different measures of fatal risk employed in these two studies together on the same data set. The conflicting results are due to several types of measurement error. We find substantial miscoding in the employee-reported industry affiliation as well as larger errors-in-variables bias in the industry-based risk than in the occupation-based risk.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arabsheibani, G. R. and Alan Marin. (1999). “Stability of Estimates of the Compensation for Danger,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 20(3), 247–269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohany, Sharon R. (1992). “The Vietnam Era Cohort: Employment and Earnings,” Monthly Labor Review 115(6), 3–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cousineau, Jean-Michel, Robert Lacoix, and Anne-Marie Girard. (1992). “Occupational Hazard and Wage Compensating Differentials,” Review of Economics and Statistics 74, 166–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickens, W. T. (1984). “Differences between Risk Premiums in Union and Non-Union Wages and the Case for Occupational Safety Regulation,” American Economic Review Paper and Proceedings 74, 320–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillingham, Alan E. (1985). “The Influence of Risk Variable Definition on Value-of-Life Estimates,” Economic-Inquiry 23, 277–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillingham, Alan E. and Robert S. Smith. (1984). “Union Effects on the Valuation of Fatal Risk,” Industrial Relations Research Association 36th Annual Proceedings 270–277.

  • Dorman, Peter and Paul Hagstrom. (1998). “Wage Compensation for Dangerous Work Revisited,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 52, 116–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorsey, Stuart. (1983). “Employment Hazards and Fringe Benefits: Further Tests for Compensating Differentials.” In John D. Worrall (ed.), Safety and the Work Force: Incentives and Disincentives in Workers' Compensation. Ithaca: ILR Press, pp. 87–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorsey, Stuart and Norman Walzer. (1983). “Workers' Compensation, Job Hazards, and Wages,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 36, 642–654.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, Richard and Frank Medoff. (1981). “The Impact of the Percent Organized on Union and Non- Union Wages,” Review of Economics and Statistics 63, 561–572.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garen, John. (1988). “Compensating Wage Differentials and the Endogeneity of Job Risk,” Review of Economics and Statistics 70, 9–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gegax, Douglas, Shelby Gerking, and William Schulze. (1991). “Perceived Risk and the Marginal Value of Safety,” The Review of Economics and Statistics 73, 589–596.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzog, Henry W. and Alan M. Schlottmann. (1990). “Valuing Risk in the Workplace: Market Price, Willingness to Pay and the Optimal Provision of Safety,” Review of Economics and Statistics 72, 463–470.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keech, Paul and Terry Orchard. (1996). “Assessing the Quality of Industry and Occupation Coding,” Statistical News 111, 29–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaborForce Survey User Guide, Volume 1: LFS Background and Methodology, (1997).

  • Leigh, J. Paul. Fall (1991). “No Evidence of Compensating Wages for Occupational Fatalities,” Industrial Relations 30, 382–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leigh, J. Paul (1995). Causes of Death in the Workplace. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood, Quorum Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, Larry. (1991). “Residential Mobility Differences Among Developed Countries,” International Regional Science Review 14, 133–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marin, Alan and George Psacharopoulus. (1982). “The Reward for Risk in the Labor Market: Evidence from the United Kingdom and a Reconciliation with Other Studies,” Journal of Political Economy 90, 827–853.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, Jean, Diane Bushnell, Roger Thomas, and Pamela Campanelli. (1995). “A Comparison of Interviewer and Office Coding of Occupations,” manuscript. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, St. Catherine's House, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellow, Wesley and Hal Sider. (1983). “Accuracy of Response in Labor Market Surveys: Evidence and Implications,” Journal of Labor Economics 1, 31–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meng, Ronald. (1989). “Compensating Differences in the Canadian Labor Market,” Canadian Journal of Economics 22, 13–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, M. and W. Kip Viscusi. (1990). Compensation Mechanisms for Job Risks: Wages, Workers Compensation and Product Liability. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD Employment Outlook (1996).

  • Olsen, Craig. (1981). “An Analysis of the Wage Differentials Received by Workers on Dangerous Jobs,” Journal of Human Resources 16, 167–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandy, Robert and Robert F. Elliott. (1996). “Unions and Risk: Their Impact on the Level of Compensation for Fatal Risks,” Economica 63, 291–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siebert, W. S. and Xiandong Wei. (1994). “Compensating Wage Differentials for Workplace Accidents: Evidence for Union and Non-Union Workers in the UK,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 6, 61–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thaler, Richard and Sherwin Rosen. (1975). “The Value of Saving a Life.” In Nestor E. Terleckyj (ed.), Household Production and Consumption. New York: NBER, pp. 265–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viscusi, W. Kip. (1979). Employment Hazards: An Investigation of Market Performance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viscusi, W. Kip. (1980). “Union, Labor Market Structure, and the Welfare Implications of the Quality of Work,” Journal of Labor Research 1, 175–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viscusi, W. Kip. (1992). “The Value of Risks to Life and Health,” Journal of Economic Literature 31, 1912–1946.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sandy, R., Elliott, R.F., Siebert, W.S. et al. Measurement Error and the Effects of Unions on the Compensating Differentials for Fatal Workplace Risks. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 23, 33–56 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011112631522

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011112631522

Navigation