10.2190/KYCX-VRN7-CM7R-GFHV KYCXVRN7CM7RGFHV 0 THE EFFECT OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY BY POLICE UNIONS ON NONWAGE BARGAINING OUTCOMES 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=KYCXVRN7CM7RGFHV 2 KEVIN M. O'BRIEN It has long been hypothesized that municipal unions can use political activity to gain more favorable bargaining outcomes. However, systematic studies of nonwage bargaining outcomes have not supported this hypothesis. This study reexamines this issue using political activity and bargaining data for police unions and finds that political activity by police unions does lead to more favorable nonwage bargaining outcomes. Reasons for the difference between the findings of this study and previous ones include use of an index to measure political activity and the use of updated data from the 1980s. In addition, unlike earlier studies, this study investigates individual bargaining issues as well as overall bargaining outcomes.