We show that differences in the quality of labor relations across countries can help to explain cross-country differences in ownership concentration. Controlling for minority shareholder protection, countries in which labor relations are hostile tend to have more concentrated ownership than countries in which labor relations are cooperative. Union strength, labor regulation, and the political o...

Empirical evidence suggests that family ownership has important implications for economic growth. Several studies find that family firms—at least secondand later-generation family firms in which the chief executive officer (CEO) is a family member, especially if CEO succession is based on primogeniture—perform relatively poorly (e.g., Francisco Pérez-González 2006; Morten Bennedsen et al. 2007;...

Chaplaincy Today • Volume 23 Number 1 • Spring/Summer 2007 AS A HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN, you recently noticed flyers in a break room cryptically urging employees to “unite.” Yesterday you overheard one nurse’s aide whisper to another about a “special meeting” after work. Today a nurse manager has asked if you’ve “heard anything” from employees about forming a union. How do you respond to her question...

Firm-level evidence suggests that family firms are more apt to honor implicit labor contracts than are widely held firms, making family firms especially successful at winning workers’ loyalty–a trait that is reflected in fewer strikes and lower unionization rates. Accordingly, we might expect to see more family ownership in countries in which labor relations, for cultural or historical reasons,...