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Journal Article
Research Spotlight: Measuring Employers’ Market Power
How competitive is the U.S. labor market? Is it highly competitive with few to no distortions, or do a few firms hold dominant market power? Answering this question quantitatively is helpful for understanding how wages are affected by labor market power, and thus for understanding how workers will be affected by labor policy choices.
Working Paper
Robinson Meets Roy: Monopsony Power and Comparative Advantage
We provide a number of insights into the nature and consequences of monopsony power through the lens of comparative advantage, where employers' power in wage setting stems from match-specific rents. Chief among them is that employers will apply larger wage markdowns to workers with greater comparative advantage at their firm. This leads to stronger monopsony power over more productive workers, provided the workers' comparative advantage aligns with their absolute advantage. Using Brazilian administrative data, we confirm this prediction: monopsony disproportionately affects high-wage workers ...