AN EMPIRICAL-ANALYSIS OF AUSTRALIAN STRIKE ACTIVITY - FURTHER EVIDENCE ON THE ROLE OF THE PRICES AND INCOMES ACCORD

This paper builds on Beggs and Chapman (1987a) to investigate whether the continuous operation of a corporatist, consensual incomes policy o ver the past decade, in the form of the Prices and Incomes Accord, con tributed significantly to the observed reduction in Australian strike activity. Models of strike incidence and strike duration are tested fo r the period 1959 (3) to 1991 (4). The evidence presented here indicat es that the Accord has had a significant negative impact on the incide nce of strikes. The Accord also appears to have reduced strike duratio n, although, somewhat surprisingly, this negative impact is stronger a fter the 'second-tier' decision.