As widespread strikes continue across the UK and around the world this summer, in this week’s podcast we delve into strike action. We discuss what makes a successful strike, whether they are an effective bargaining tool, and if they actually work.

We recount the history of strikes in the UK and US, account for the steep decline in striking since the 1970s, and provide a few speculative reasons for why you don’t see as many strikes these days. We diagnose the problems facing the world economy and disclose some of our worst-ever jobs.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Working days lost due to strike action in the public sector - monthly (UK) https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/timeseries/f8xz/lms
• Bargaining Power, Strike Durations, and Wage Outcomes: An Analysis of Strikes in the 1880s https://davidcard.berkeley.edu/papers/bargain-strikes.pdf
• Rubinstein bargaining model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubinstein_bargaining_model

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Image by Nick Efford via Wikimedia Commons