Rise and Decline of Nations, by Mancur Olson’s 2 small question assignments

In my opinion the Wall Street article seems to contradict Olson's statement about lobbying. According to Olson the groups that have access to selective incentives are more likely to act in order to obtain collective goods, the smaller the group the grater the chance to engage in taking action. Meanwhile the collective good is predicted to be greater since the group is smaller. So the logic is the greater the group the smaller the likelihood of the group to take collective action. However, according to the Wall Street article, unionized workers have increased their influential power on politics over the last seven years! Situation that contradicts Olson, (in my opinion) unionized workers rely on little incentive to take collective action however the collective good (if obtained) can be of great benefit for the group. it is also true that unions have increased their political spending while the amount of members have decreased considerably. The number of unionized workers is smaller compared to numbers from 25 years ago however, the number of unionized workers is still a considerable great number. 

I believe that union workers are sometimes willing to work as campaign workers because of a combination of factors:

·         Trivial costs compared to perceived rewards;

·         The psychological effects of working in a group toward a common goal;

·         The innate political drive of many union leaders (workers may see political prowess as a way to move up the union ladder).

Prima facie, this would support Olson’s argument that labor unions would not exist if the sole benefit of joining them was the common benefits they provide. If the only benefit to union workers’ political efforts were the results those political campaigns bring union workers, there would in fact be no intrinsic motivation for the workers.

The reality is however, that there are other benefits to a union worker’s political activity beyond the benefits reaped from a successful campaign, and this could be a possible reason why workers continue to be involved, despite the fact that the gains of the union are virtually universal.