Question A: A "right-to-work" law would grow the Ohio economy.
Question B: A "right-to-work" law in Ohio would increase state employment.
Question C: A "right-to-work" law in Ohio would exacerbate inequality in the state.
Question A: A "right-to-work" law would grow the Ohio economy.
| Economist | Institution | Opinion | Confidence | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Andreas | Bluffton University | Uncertain | 5 | I have not seen a lot of empirical work on this question and what little I have seen does not look very definitive. For example, there is an Austin & Lilley paper that claims RTW laws have implausibly large positive effects upon everything and don't even reduce "the legal power of unions when bargaining with firms"! But it hasn't been peer reviewed and many other papers provide contradictory evidence, so I'm not confident enough to make a judgement. I'd guess that there is little effect given the contradictory work out there. |
| Greg Arburn | University of Findlay | Strongly Agree | 10 | |
| Bizuayehu Bedane | Marietta College | Uncertain | 8 | |
| David Brasington | University of Cincinnati | Strongly Agree | 10 | |
| Kevin Egan | University of Toledo | Disagree | 8 | It may grow slightly the manufacturing part of the economy but if workers end up paid less then they have less to spend locally so other parts of the economy may offset any manufacturing increases. |
| Kenneth Fah | Ohio Dominican University | Uncertain | 9 | |
| Bob Gitter | Ohio Wesleyan University | Uncertain | 6 | There are reasons to oppose such a law but frankly, the overall impact on the growth of the Ohio economy will be minimal. |
| Paul Holmes | Ashland University | Disagree | 5 | |
| Michael Jones | University of Cincinnati | Strongly Agree | 10 | |
| Charles Kroncke | Mount Saint Joseph University | Agree | 8 | |
| Trevon Logan | Ohio State University | Disagree | 9 | |
| Michael Myler | University of Mount Union | Disagree | 8 | A RtW law would create "free riders"; the market system does not function efficiently in the presence of free riders. |
| Joe Nowakowski | Muskingum University | Uncertain | 5 | |
| Lewis Sage | Baldwin Wallace University | Uncertain | 5 | |
| Kay Strong | Independent | Disagree | 9 | |
| Albert Sumell | Youngstown State University | Strongly Disagree | 9 | Other states that have implemented right to work laws have not experienced economic growth above the national average. |
| Melissa Thomasson | Miami University | Agree | 7 | Holding everything else constant, most likely |
| Ejindu Ume | Miami University | Disagree | 9 | |
| Andy Welki | John Carroll University | Agree | 8 | |
| Kathryn Wilson | Kent State University | Strongly Disagree | 8 | |
| Rachel Wilson | Wittenberg University | Uncertain | 7 |
Question B: A "right-to-work" law in Ohio would increase state employment.
| Economist | Institution | Opinion | Confidence | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Andreas | Bluffton University | Uncertain | 5 | |
| Greg Arburn | University of Findlay | Strongly Agree | 10 | |
| Bizuayehu Bedane | Marietta College | Uncertain | 8 | |
| David Brasington | University of Cincinnati | Strongly Agree | 10 | |
| Kevin Egan | University of Toledo | Uncertain | 8 | There may be a small increase in manufacturing employment, but also the long run effect is likely to be lower wages for manufacturing workers who then have less to spend locally so the effect on employment is uncertain. If workers are paid less then those dollars likely go to shareholders of the firms who are mostly likely mostly out of state. |
| Kenneth Fah | Ohio Dominican University | Uncertain | 9 | |
| Bob Gitter | Ohio Wesleyan University | Disagree | 7 | Ohio seems to be attracting a lot of jobs now even without such a law, |
| Paul Holmes | Ashland University | Disagree | 6 | |
| Michael Jones | University of Cincinnati | Agree | 5 | |
| Charles Kroncke | Mount Saint Joseph University | Agree | 5 | |
| Trevon Logan | Ohio State University | Disagree | 9 | |
| Michael Myler | University of Mount Union | Disagree | 8 | |
| Joe Nowakowski | Muskingum University | Agree | 8 | |
| Lewis Sage | Baldwin Wallace University | Uncertain | 5 | only a temporary effect until other states follow the plunge to lower wages |
| Kay Strong | Independent | Disagree | 9 | Per BLS union membership accounts for only 12% of Ohio's labor force and is highest in education, training and library services. Right to work laws will have little or no effect on Ohio employment rates."Right to Living Wage" legislation should be the focus of attention in Ohio. |
| Albert Sumell | Youngstown State University | Disagree | 8 | It may increase the number of lower wage jobs, but that should not be viewed as a positive. These jobs would be in place of higher quality livable wage jobs. |
| Melissa Thomasson | Miami University | Agree | 7 | |
| Ejindu Ume | Miami University | Disagree | 8 | |
| Andy Welki | John Carroll University | Agree | 8 | |
| Kathryn Wilson | Kent State University | Strongly Disagree | 8 | |
| Rachel Wilson | Wittenberg University | Uncertain | 7 |
Question C: A "right-to-work" law in Ohio would exacerbate inequality in the state.
| Economist | Institution | Opinion | Confidence | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Andreas | Bluffton University | Uncertain | 5 | |
| Greg Arburn | University of Findlay | Strongly Disagree | 10 | |
| Bizuayehu Bedane | Marietta College | Disagree | 7 | |
| David Brasington | University of Cincinnati | Uncertain | 8 | |
| Kevin Egan | University of Toledo | Strongly Agree | 10 | Yes. The "right to work" law is mostly about fairness and bargaining power of workers vs. corporations, and with that frame workers overall loose bargaining power. Workers have the choice to work at a firm that has union labor or not, but once they make that choice it is efficient to require all workers to be in the union and pay dues to eliminate the free-rider problem where workers enjoy benefits of union but don't pay dues. Overall, the likely impact is less unions, lower wages for workers, and a higher profit margin for the firm who pays it out to wealthy shareholders, hence income inequality is increased. |
| Kenneth Fah | Ohio Dominican University | Agree | 9 | |
| Bob Gitter | Ohio Wesleyan University | Agree | 8 | Unions tend to lead to more income equality, especially during harder economic times. |
| Paul Holmes | Ashland University | Agree | 7 | |
| Michael Jones | University of Cincinnati | Disagree | 5 | |
| Charles Kroncke | Mount Saint Joseph University | Disagree | 7 | |
| Trevon Logan | Ohio State University | Agree | 8 | |
| Michael Myler | University of Mount Union | Uncertain | 6 | That could be the result if the union could get management to agree to pay the non-union workers significantly less. |
| Joe Nowakowski | Muskingum University | Agree | 9 | |
| Lewis Sage | Baldwin Wallace University | Agree | 9 | at the margin, probably a small effect as labor market monopsony has already created a large capital v. labor gap |
| Kay Strong | Independent | Agree | 8 | |
| Albert Sumell | Youngstown State University | Strongly Agree | 10 | Right to work destroys Unions and further diminishes workers ability to negotiate higher wages. This reduces workers' income and increases owner's income, which increases inequality. |
| Melissa Thomasson | Miami University | Agree | 7 | Wages typically go down in these states, but that is not the only factor influencing inequality |
| Ejindu Ume | Miami University | Agree | 5 | |
| Andy Welki | John Carroll University | Strongly Disagree | 8 | |
| Kathryn Wilson | Kent State University | Agree | 5 | |
| Rachel Wilson | Wittenberg University | Uncertain | 7 |