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{{Short description|Market structure with one buyer}} |
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In [[economics]], a '''monopsony''' is a market with only one buyer in the market, often an input market. This is analogous to the case of a [[monopoly]] in which there is only one ''seller'' in a market. |
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{{Competition law}} |
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{{restrictive market structures}} |
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In [[economics]], a '''monopsony''' is a [[market structure]] in which a single buyer substantially controls the market as the major purchaser of goods and services offered by many would-be sellers. The [[Microeconomics|microeconomic]] theory of monopsony assumes a single entity to have market power over all sellers as the only purchaser of a good or service. This is a similar power to that of a [[monopolist]], which can influence the price for its buyers in a [[monopoly]], where multiple buyers have only one seller of a good or service available to purchase from. |
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During the era of the [[robber baron]]s, John D. Rockefeller used his monopsony power to take advantage of the Union Pacific railroad by making a deal that forced the railroad to pay his [[Standard Oil]] if they were to ship any oil other than Standard Oil. |
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==History== |
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Monopsony means that a business with monopoly power can control the supply of the goods that they buy. That means that it can reduce the quantity of an input demanded in order to depress the price of that input. This contrasts with a competitive buyer, which simply buys as many units of input as long as the marginal benefit exceeds the input price, over which it has no control. Monopsony power in essence gives a business the ability to control their unit cost of paying for an input, similar to how a monopoly can control their price. |
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Monopsony theory was developed by economist [[Joan Robinson]] in her book ''[[The Economics of Imperfect Competition]]'' (1933).<ref name="RobinsonAssessments" /> Economists use the term "monopsony power" in a manner similar to "monopoly power", as a shorthand reference for a scenario in which there is one dominant power in the buying relationship, so that power is able to set prices to maximize profits not subject to competitive constraints. Monopsony power exists when one buyer faces little competition from other buyers for that labour or good, so they are able to set wages or prices for the labour or goods they are buying at a level lower than would be the case in a competitive market. In economic literature the term "monopsony" is predominantly used when referring to labour markets,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Ashenfelter|first1=Orley|last2=Farber|first2=Henry|last3=Ransom|first3=Michael|date=2010|title=Labor Market Monopsony|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/653654|journal=Journal of Labor Economics|volume=28|issue=2|pages=203–210|doi=10.1086/653654|jstor=10.1086/653654|s2cid=154920182|issn=0734-306X}}</ref> however could be applied to any industry, good or service where a buyer has market power over all sellers. |
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A classic theoretical example is a [[mining town]], where the company that owns the mine is able to set wages low since they face no competition from other employers in hiring workers, because they are the only employer in the town, and geographic isolation or obstacles prevent workers from seeking employment in other locations. Other more current examples may include school districts where teachers have little mobility across districts. In such cases the district faces little competition from other schools in hiring teachers, giving the district increased power when negotiating employment terms.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ransom|first1=Michael|last2=Sims|first2=David|date=2010|title=Estimating the Firm's Labor Supply Curve in a "New Monopsony" Framework: Schoolteachers in Missouri|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/649904|journal=Journal of Labor Economics|volume=28|issue=2|pages=331–355|doi=10.1086/649904|jstor=10.1086/649904|s2cid=19545337|issn=0734-306X|via=JSTOR|hdl=10419/35295|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Alternative terms are [[oligopsony]] or monopsonistic competition. |
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Sometimes with monopoly power in markets comes monopsony power because as well as selling the most they buy the most. This in turn gives monopsony/monopoly businesses above-normal profits when they (1) reduce input purchases to forcibly lower their unit costs and (2) decrease output supply, raising its price. This raises profits via both ends of the spectrum. |
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===Etymology=== |
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===Monopsony in labor markets=== |
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The term "monopsony" (from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] μόνος (''mónos'') "single" and ὀψωνία (''opsōnía'') "purchase")<ref name="jep" /> was first introduced by the British economist [[Joan Robinson]] in her influential<ref name="RobinsonAssessments">{{Cite book|last=Robinson|first=Joan|date=1969|title=The Economics of Imperfect Competition|url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-349-15320-6|language=en-gb|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-15320-6|isbn=978-0-333-10289-3}}</ref> book, ''The Economics of Imperfect Competition'', published in 1933. Robinson credited classics scholar [[Bertrand Hallward]] at [[the University of Cambridge]] with coining the term.<ref name="jep">{{cite journal | title=Retrospectives: How Joan Robinson and B. L. Hallward Named Monopsony | author=Thornton, Rupert J. | journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives | year=2004 | volume=18 | issue=2 | pages=257–261 | doi=10.1257/0895330041371240 | doi-access=free }}</ref> |
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==Static monopsony in a labour market== |
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The "classic" case of a monopsony in labor markets is the "company town," an isolated town where there is only one employer (or almost everybody is dependent on a single employer for their livelihood). This situation was seen in places in the United States during the 19th century, but most economists see it as rare today in the richer countries. But Alan Manning's 2003 book, ''Monopsony in Motion: Imperfect Competition in Labor Markets'' (ISBN 0691113122) suggests that this kind of market is common if not ubiquitous in labor markets. Workers face limited mobility between jobs and limited information about available jobs, so that their employers monopsonistic advantage. Further, the monopsony power of an employer is increased when there is significant [[unemployment#Cyclical_unemployment|unemployment]] since that raises the cost of quitting one's job and lowers the probability of finding a new one. |
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[[File:Monopsony-static-partial-equilibrium.svg|thumb|300px|right|A monopsonist employer maximizes profits by choosing the employment level ''L'', that equates the marginal revenue product (''MRP'') to the marginal cost ''MC'', at point ''A''. The wage is then determined on the labour supply curve, at point ''M'', and is equal to ''w''. By contrast, a competitive labour market would reach equilibrium at point ''C'', where labour supply ''S'' equals demand. This would lead to employment ''L' '' and wage ''w'.'']] |
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The standard textbook monopsony model of a labour market is a static [[partial equilibrium]] model with just one employer who pays the same wage to all the workers.<ref name=":2" /> The employer faces an upward-sloping ''labour supply curve''<ref name=":0" /> (as generally contrasted with an infinitely elastic labour supply curve), represented by the ''S'' blue curve in the diagram on the right. This curve relates the wage paid, <math>w</math>, to the level of employment, <math>L</math>, and is denoted as an increasing function <math>w(L)</math>. Total labour costs are given by <math>w(L)\cdot L</math>. The firm has total revenue <math>R</math>, which increases with <math>L</math>. The firm wants to choose <math>L</math> to maximize profit, <math>P</math>, which is given by: |
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In the case of a monopsonistic employer of labor, the imposition of a minimum wage can actually raise employment, as seen below. |
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:<math>P(L)=R(L)-w(L)\cdot L\,\!</math>. |
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===Graphical analysis=== |
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At the maximum profit <math>P'(L) = 0</math>, so the first-order condition for maximization is |
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[[Image:MONOPSNY.jpg|frame|right|A monopsonistic employer maximizes profits at point '''M''', a competitive one at point '''C'''. The monopsonist's limiting of employment depresses wages.]] The behavior of a simple monopsonistic employer of labor compared to that of a competitive employer in the diagram. It is assumed, for simplicity, that the company also has a monopoly in the product market. |
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:<math>0=R'(L) - w'(L)\cdot L-w(L)</math> |
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Following [[neoclassical economics]], hiring decisions are made following [[marginal]] analysis: labor as hired as long as the extra benefit of hiring exceeds the extra cost of doing so. Thus, profit maximization implies that the marginal benefit of hiring labor ''equals'' the marginal cost of doing so (the '''MCL'''). |
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where <math>w'(L)</math> is the derivative of the function <math>w(L),</math> implying |
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In neoclassical economics, when the product market is competitive, the marginal benefit of hiring equals the value of the [[marginal product]] of labor ('''VMP'''). It corresponds to the demand-for-labor curve in the diagram. However, if the company has a product-market monopoly, there is an incentive to restrict output — and thus employment — in order to keep the product price up. Thus the benefits of hiring equal the ''marginal revenue product'' of labor, i.e., |
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:<math>R'(L)=w'(L)\cdot L+w(L).</math> |
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:: '''MRP''' = Δ'''total revenue'''/Δ'''L''' |
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The left-hand side of this expression, <math>R'(L)</math>, is the ''[[marginal revenue product]]'' of labour (roughly, the extra revenue generated by an extra worker) and is represented by the red ''MRP'' curve in the diagram. The right-hand side is the ''[[marginal cost]]'' of labour (roughly, the extra cost due to an extra worker) and is represented by the green ''MC'' curve in the diagram. Notably, the marginal cost is ''higher'' than the wage <math>w(L)</math> paid to the new worker by the amount |
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The '''MRP''' line is closely related to the marginal revenue ('''MR''') line in a graph for a [[monopoly]] firm. For a firm without monopsony power, the marginal cost of hiring labor ('''MCL''') is simply equal to the wage rate ('''W''') because the employer's decisions have no obvious effect on wages. This corresponds to points along the supply-of-labor curve. Thus, the employment decision sets |
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:<math>w'(L)L\,\!</math>. |
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:: '''MRP''' = '''W''' to maximize profits. |
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This is because, by assumption, the firm has to increase the wage paid to all the workers it already employs whenever it hires an extra worker. In the diagram, this leads to an ''MC'' curve that is ''above'' the labour supply curve ''S''. |
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In the graph, equilibrium is represented by point '''C'''. The wage is thus '''W<sub>C</sub>''' and employment is '''L<sub>C</sub>'''. (If the firm does not have monopoly power in its product market, the '''MRP''' line would correspond to the demand-for-labor curve. In that case, hiring would be determined by the point where the supply and demand curves intersect, at an even higher level of employment.) |
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The first-order condition for maximum profit is then satisfied at point ''A'' of the diagram, where the ''MC'' and ''MRP'' curves intersect. This determines the profit-maximizing employment as ''L'' on the horizontal axis. The corresponding wage ''w'' is then obtained from the supply curve, through point ''M''. |
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In general, the marginal cost of hiring labor is defined as the rise in total labor costs divided by the rise in labor: |
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The monopsonistic equilibrium at ''M'' can be contrasted with the equilibrium that would obtain under competitive conditions. Suppose a competitive employer entered the market and offered a wage higher than that at ''M''. Then every employee of the first employer would choose instead to work for the competitor. Moreover, the competitor would gain all the former profits of the first employer, minus a less-than-offsetting amount from the wage increase of the first employer's employees, plus profit arising from additional employees who decided to work in the market because of the wage increase. But the first employer would respond by offering an even higher wage, poaching the new rival's employees, and so forth. As a result, a group of perfectly competitive firms would be forced, through [[competition]], to intersection ''C'' rather than ''M''. Just as a [[monopoly]] is thwarted by the competition to win sales, minimizing prices and maximizing output, competition for employees between the employers in this case would maximize both wages and employment. |
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:: '''MCL''' = Δ('''W'''*'''L''')/Δ'''L''' |
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===Welfare implications=== |
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In the case of the monopsonist, this is not simply the '''wage''' but also any increase in wages that occurs due to increased employment. So the '''MCL''' exceeds the wage at any given level of employment (except zero), as shown in the diagram. Then, for a firm that is competitive in the product market, |
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[[File:Monopsony-welfare-effects.svg|right|thumb|300px|The grey rectangle is a measure of the amount of economic welfare transferred from the workers to their employer(s) by monopsony power. The yellow triangle shows the ''overall deadweight loss'' inflicted on both groups by the monopsonistic restriction of employment. It is thus a measure of the ''market failure'' caused by monopsony.]] |
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The lower employment and wages caused by monopsony power have two distinct effects on the economic welfare of the people involved. Firstly, it redistributes welfare away from workers and to their employer(s).<ref name=":0" /> Secondly, it reduces the aggregate (or social) welfare enjoyed by both groups taken together, as the employers' net gain is smaller than the loss inflicted on workers. |
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The diagram on the right illustrates both effects, using the standard approach based on the notion of [[economic surplus]]. According to this notion, the workers' economic surplus (or net gain from the exchange) is given by the area between the ''S'' curve and the horizontal line corresponding to the wage, up to the employment level. Similarly, the employers' surplus is the area between the horizontal line corresponding to the wage and the ''MRP'' curve, up to the employment level. The ''social'' surplus is then the sum of these two areas.<ref name=":1" /> |
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:: '''MRP''' = '''MCL''' to maximize profits. |
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Following such definitions, the grey rectangle, in the diagram, is the part of the competitive social surplus that has been redistributed from the workers to their employer(s) under monopsony. By contrast, the yellow triangle is the part of the competitive social surplus that has been lost by ''both'' parties, as a result of the monopsonistic restriction of employment.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Blair|first1=Roger D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TwO_9cH9TcC&q=Monopsony+in+Law+and+Economics&pg=PR1|title=Monopsony in Law and Economics|last2=Harrison|first2=Jeffrey L.|date=2010-09-06|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49097-9|language=en}}</ref> This is a net social loss and is called ''[[deadweight loss]]''. It is a measure of the [[market failure]] caused by monopsony power, through a wasteful misallocation of resources. |
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Profit maximization occurs at point '''M'''. This determines the point on the supply-of-labor curve that the employer chooses. Thus, the wage is '''W<sub>M</sub>''' and employment is '''L<sub>M</sub>'''. Both wages and employment are lower than in the competitive case. (If the company lacks monopoly power in its product market, then hiring would be determined by the point where the supply and demand curves intersect, at a higher level of employment.) |
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As the diagram suggests, the size of both effects increases with the difference between the marginal revenue product ''MRP'' and the market wage determined on the supply curve ''S''. This difference corresponds to the vertical side of the yellow triangle, and can be expressed as a proportion of the market wage, according to the formula: |
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If a minimum wage is established and successfully enforced, that implies that the firm sees a horizontal labor supply curve to the left of the normal competitive supply curve, as with the solid red line drawn between '''W<sub>M</sub>''' and '''W<sub>C</sub>''' at a wage equal to '''min'''. (A similar result can occur due to the actions of a labor union.) For this horizontal segment, the '''MCL''' equals the wage rate since the firm's employment decisions have no effect on the wage. If the minimum wages is higher than '''W<sub>M</sub>''' and lower than or equal to '''W<sub>C</sub>''', then the imposition of the minimum wage implies that employment rises relative to the monopsonistic situation. On the other hand, if the minimum wage rises above '''W<sub>C</sub>''', that decreases employment relative to '''L<sub>C</sub>'''. It is possible, however, that employment could still be above '''L<sub>M</sub>''', as long as the minimum wage is below the wage '''W*''' corresponding to point '''M'''. |
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:<math>e=\frac{R'(w)-w}{w}\,\!</math>. |
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===Non-labor examples=== |
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The ratio <math>e</math> has been called the [[rate of exploitation]], and it can be easily shown that it equals the reciprocal of the elasticity of the labour supply curve faced by the firm. Thus the rate of exploitation<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Flatau|first=Paul|date=2001-01-01|title=Some Reflections on the 'Pigou-Robinson' Theory of Exploitation|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10370196.2001.11733346|journal=History of Economics Review|volume=33|issue=1|pages=1–16|doi=10.1080/10370196.2001.11733346|s2cid=55190294|issn=1037-0196}}</ref> is zero under competitive conditions, when this elasticity tends to infinity. Empirical estimates of <math>e</math> by various means are a common feature of the applied literature devoted to the measurement of observed monopsony power. |
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*An example of a market with a monopsony is the market for [[road]] construction, in which there are many suppliers but only one significant buyer (the [[government]]). |
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*The arms industry is another example when the only (domestic) customer is the state. |
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*Single-payer healthcare is a system where the government is the only buyer. |
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Finally, it is important to notice that, while the gray-area redistribution effect could be reversed by fiscal policy (i.e., taxing employers and transferring the tax revenue to the workers), this is not so for the yellow-area deadweight loss. The market failure can only be addressed in one of two ways: either by breaking up the monopsony through anti-trust intervention, or by regulating the wage policy of firms. The most common kind of regulation is a binding [[minimum wage]] higher than the monopsonistic wage. |
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These examples indicate that the government can have monopsony power. The first two also suggest that in the real world, we cannot ignore the existence of what [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] termed "contervailing power." The construction industries are often well organized and can form a coalition with government decision-makers to dedicate ''too many'' resources to road construction, rather than the ''too few'' that are suggested by the simple monopsony model. Similarly, it is often alleged that the [[military-industrial complex]] involves a coalition that dedicates too many resources to military purposes. If the medical professions and the pharmaceutical industry are well organized, we might see similar results with single-payer healthcare. |
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=== |
===Minimum wage=== |
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[[File:Monopsony-minimum-wage.svg|thumb|300px|right|With a binding minimum wage of ''w{{'}}' '' the marginal cost to the firm becomes the horizontal black ''MC' '' line, and the firm [[Profit maximization|maximises profits]] (which it can do due to a lack of competition) at ''A'' with a higher employment ''L{{'}}'.'' However, in this example, the minimum wage is higher than the competitive one, leading to ''[[involuntary unemployment]]'' equal to the segment ''AB''.]] |
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A binding minimum wage can be introduced either directly by law or through collective bargaining laws requiring union membership. While it is generally agreed that minimum wage price floors reduce employment,<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.epionline.org/wp-content/studies/Neumark_2007.pdf|year=2007|title=Minimum Wage Effects in the Post-welfare Reform Era|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506194217/https://www.epionline.org/wp-content/studies/Neumark_2007.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-06}}</ref> economic literature has yet to form a consensus regarding the effects in the presence of monopsony power.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Manning|first=Alan|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hhpvk|title=Monopsony in Motion: Imperfect Competition in Labor Markets|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-691-12328-8|location=Princeston University Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt5hhpvk |jstor=j.ctt5hhpvk}}</ref> Some studies have shown that if monopsony power is present within a labour market the effect is reversed and a minimum wage ''could'' increase employment.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stigler|first=George J.|date=1946|title=The Economics of Minimum Wage Legislation|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1801842|journal=The American Economic Review|volume=36|issue=3|pages=358–365|jstor=1801842|issn=0002-8282}}</ref> |
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[[Market forms]], [[Oligopsony]], [[Minimum wage]] |
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This effect is demonstrated in the diagram on the right. |
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[[fr:Monopsone]] |
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Here the minimum wage is {{var|w}}<nowiki>''</nowiki>, higher than the monopsonistic {{var|w}}. Because of the binding effects of minimum wage and the excess supply of labour (as defined by the monopsony status), the marginal cost of labour for the firm becomes constant (the price of hiring an additional worker rather than the increasing cost as labour becomes more scarce).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/02/the_minimum_wag_4.html|title=The Minimum Wage and Monopsony|year=2015|work=The Library of Economics and Liberty|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213195056/http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/02/the_minimum_wag_4.html|archive-date=2018-02-13}}</ref> This means that the firm maximizes profit at the intersection of the new marginal cost line ({{var|MC}}' in the diagram) and Marginal Revenue Product line (the additional revenue for selling one more unit).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2013/02/the_minimum_wag_2.html|title=The Minimum Wage and Monopsony|year=2013|work=The Library of Economics and Liberty|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213021850/http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2013/02/the_minimum_wag_2.html|archive-date=2018-02-13}}</ref> This is the point where it becomes more expensive to produce an additional item than is earned in revenue from selling that item. |
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This condition is still inefficient compared to a competitive market. The line segment represented by A—B shows that there are still workers who would like to find a job, but cannot due to the monopsonistic nature of this industry. This would represent the unemployment rate for this industry. This illustrates that there will be deadweight loss in a monopsonistic labour environment regardless of minimum wage levels, however a minimum wage law can increase total employment within the industry. |
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More generally, a binding minimum wage modifies the form of the supply curve faced by the firm, which becomes: |
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:<math>w=\begin{cases}w_{min},&\mbox{if }w_{min}\ge\;w(L)\\w(L), &\mbox{if }w_{min}\le\;w(L)\end{cases}\,\!</math> |
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where <math>w(L)</math> is the original supply curve and <math>w_{min}</math> is the minimum wage. The new curve has thus a horizontal first branch and a kink at the point |
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:<math> w(L)=w_{min}\,\!</math> |
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as is shown in the diagram by the kinked black curve ''MC' S'' (the black curve to the right of point B). The resulting equilibria (the profit-maximizing choices that rational companies will make) can then fall into one of three classes according to the value taken by the minimum wage, as shown by the following table: |
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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
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|+ Profit-maximizing choice in a monopsonistic labour market depends upon the minimum wage level |
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|- |
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! |
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! Minimum wage |
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! Resulting equilibrium |
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|- |
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! First Case |
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| < monopsony wage |
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| where the monopsony wage intersects the supply curve (S) |
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|- |
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! Second Case |
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| > monopsony wage <br /> but <br /> ≤ competitive wage (the intersection of S and MRP) |
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| at the intersection of the minimum wage and the supply curve (S) |
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|- |
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! Third Case |
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| > competitive wage |
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| at intersection where minimum wage equals ''MRP'' |
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|} |
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Yet, even when it is sub-optimal, a minimum wage higher than the monopsonistic rate can raises the level of employment anyway. This is a highly remarkable result because it only follows under monopsony. Indeed, under competitive conditions any minimum wage higher than the market rate would actually ''reduce'' employment, according to classical economic models and the consensus of peer-reviewed work.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.epionline.org/wp-content/studies/Neumark_2007.pdf|year=2007|title=Minimum Wage Effects in the Post-welfare Reform Era|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506194217/https://www.epionline.org/wp-content/studies/Neumark_2007.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-06}}</ref> Thus, spotting the effects on employment of newly introduced minimum wage regulations is among the indirect ways economists use to pin down monopsony power in selected labour markets. This technique was used, for example in a series of studies looking at the American labour market that found monopsonies existed only in several specialized fields such as professional sports and college professors.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://eh.net/encyclopedia/monopsony-in-american-labor-markets/|year=2017|title=Monopsony in American Labor Markets|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319225003/https://eh.net/encyclopedia/monopsony-in-american-labor-markets/|archive-date=2018-03-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dstaiger/Papers/2010/staiger%20spetz%20phibbs%20monopsony%20jole%202010.pdf|year=2010|title=Is There Monopsony in the Labor Market? Evidence from a Natural Experiment|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809040652/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dstaiger/Papers/2010/staiger%20spetz%20phibbs%20monopsony%20jole%202010.pdf|archive-date=2017-08-09}}</ref> |
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===Wage discrimination=== |
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Just like a monopolist, a monopsonistic employer may find that its profits are maximized if it [[Price discrimination|''discriminates'' prices]]. In this case the company pays different wages to different groups of workers (even if their MRP is the same), with lower wages paid to the workers who have a lower elasticity of supply of their labour to the firm. |
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Researchers have used this fact to explain at least part of the observed wage differentials whereby [[Equal pay for women|women often earn less than men]], even after controlling for observed productivity differentials. Robinson's original application of monopsony (1938) was developed to explain wage differentials between equally productive women and men.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |author=R.L. Oaxaca |title=Notes on Monopsony Model of Gender Wage Gaps |publisher=University of Arizona |url=http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rlo/696i/Monopsony_Model_Latex.pdf |access-date=2014-02-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203115043/http://www.u.arizona.edu/~rlo/696i/Monopsony_Model_Latex.pdf |archive-date=2014-02-03 }}</ref> Ransom and Oaxaca (2004) found that women's wage elasticity is lower than that of men for employees at a grocery store chain in Missouri, controlling for other factors typically associated with wage determination.<ref>http://dataspace.princeton.edu/jspui/bitstream/88435/dsp01nk322d34x/1/540.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> Ransom and Lambson (2011) found that female teachers are paid less than male teachers due to differences in labour market mobility constraints facing women and men.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.econbiz.de/Record/monopsony-mobility-and-sex-differences-in-pay-missouri-school-teachers-ransom-michael/10009267099|title=Monopsony, mobility, and sex differences in pay : Missouri school teachers|volume=101|issue=3|year=2011|journal=Econbiz.de|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203110219/http://www.econbiz.de/Record/monopsony-mobility-and-sex-differences-in-pay-missouri-school-teachers-ransom-michael/10009267099|archive-date=2014-02-03|series=The American economic review. - Nashville, Tenn : American Economic Assoc, ISSN 0002-8282, ZDB-ID 203590-x. - Vol. 101.2011, 3, p. 454-459|last1=Ransom|first1=Michael R.|last2=Lambson|first2=Val Eugene}}</ref> |
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Some authors have argued informally that, while this is so for ''market'' supply, the reverse may somehow be true of the supply to individual firms. In particular, Manning and others have shown that, in the case of the [[Equal Pay Act 1970|UK Equal Pay Act]], implementation has led to higher employment of women. Since the Act was effectively minimum wage legislation for women, this might perhaps be interpreted as a symptom of monopsonistic discrimination. |
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Standard labor market models assume that workers have accurate information about their outside options and subsequently negotiate with their employer to raise their wages so they match outside offers or switch jobs. However, a 2024 study of German workers in the ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'' found that they severely underestimated the wages that they would earn at other jobs. This underestimation of outside wages could contribute to monopsony power for employers.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae001 |title=Worker Beliefs About Outside Options |last1=Jäger |first1=Simon |last2=Roth |first2=Christopher |date=2024 |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |last3=Roussille |first3=Nina |last4=Schoefer |first4=Benjamin|volume=139 |issue=3 |pages=1505–1556 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjae001 |hdl=10419/250624 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> |
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== Dynamic models of monopsony == |
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More recent labor market models of monopsony<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> have indicated that some monopsonistic power is likely present in otherwise competitive markets. Its cause can be linked to [[imperfect information]] as a result of search frictions.<ref name=":0" /> This may indicate companies operating under competitive market conditions have some limited discretion to manipulate wage rates without losing employees to competitors that is associated with the search friction in that market (ie how hard it is to find and secure another job). This modern perspective of dynamic monopsony<ref name=":2" /> first proposed by [[Alan Manning|Allan Manning]] (2003), also results in an upward sloping labor supply curve, and is more practical as it incorporates multiple employers in a competitive market whilst also allowing for search frictions, and a costly search.<ref name=":3" /> |
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==Empirical problems== |
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The simpler explanation of monopsony power in labour markets is barriers to entry on the demand side. Such barriers to entry would result in a limited number of companies competing for labour (oligopsony). If the hypothesis was generally true, one would expect to find that wages decreased as firm size increased or, more accurately, as industry concentration increased. However, numerous statistical studies document significant positive correlations between firm or establishment size and wages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Green|first1=Francis|last2=Machin|first2=Stephen|last3=Manning|first3=Alan|date=1996|title=The Employer Size-Wage Effect: Can Dynamic Monopsony Provide an Explanation?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2663717|journal=Oxford Economic Papers|volume=48|issue=3|pages=433–455|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.oep.a028577|jstor=2663717|issn=0030-7653}}</ref> These results are often explained as being the result of cross-industry competition. For example, if there were only one fast food producer, that industry would be very consolidated. The company, however, would be unable to drive down wages via monopsonistic power if it were also competing against retail stores, construction, and other jobs utilizing the same labour skill set. This finding is both intuitive (low-skilled labour can move more fluidly through different industries) and supported by a study of American labor markets which found monopsony effects were limited to professional sports, teaching, and nursing, fields where skill sets limit moving to comparably paid other industries.<ref name="auto1"/> |
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However, monopsony power might also be due to circumstances affecting entry of workers on the supply side (like in the referenced case above), directly reducing the elasticity of labour supply to firms. Paramount among these are industry accreditation or licensing fees, regulatory constraints, training or education requirements, and the institutional factors that limit labour mobility between firms, including job protection legislation. |
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An alternative that has been suggested as a source of monopsony power is worker preferences over job characteristics.<ref name="ECJ">{{cite journal | title=Minimum Wages for Ronald McDonald Monopsonies: a Theory of Monopsonistic Competition | last1=Bhaskar |first1=V. |last2=To |first2=Ted | journal=The Economic Journal | year=2001 | volume=109 | issue=455 | pages=190–203 | doi=10.1111/1468-0297.00427|citeseerx = 10.1.1.195.6646}}</ref><ref name="jep 2">{{cite journal | title=Oligopsony and Monopsonistic Competition in Labor Markets |first1=V. |last1=Bhaskar |first2=Alan |last2=Manning |first3=Ted |last3=To | journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives | year=2002 | volume=16 | issue=2 | pages=155–274 | doi=10.1257/0895330027300| url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/15468/1/15468.pdf | doi-access=free }}</ref> Such job characteristics can include distance from work, type of work, location, the social environment at work, etc. If different workers have different preferences, employers could have local monopsony power over workers that strongly prefer working for them. |
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Empirical evidence of monopsony power has been relatively limited. In line with the considerations discussed above, but perhaps counter to common intuition, there is no observable monopsony power in low-skilled labour markets in the US.<ref name="auto1"/> Though there has been at least one study finding monopsony power in Indonesia due to barriers to entry in developing countries.<ref name="CU">{{cite journal | url=http://conference.iza.org/conference_files/worldb2011/brummund_p6819.pdf | title=Evidence of Monopsony in the Labor Market of a Developing Country | last=Brummond |first=Peter | journal=Cornell University | year=2010 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405025127/http://conference.iza.org/conference_files/worldb2011/brummund_p6819.pdf | archive-date=2018-04-05 }}</ref> Several studies expanding their view for monopsony power have found economic and labor mobility in the US precludes any detectable monopsony effects<ref name="ILRR">{{cite journal | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246546086 | title=Monopsony Power, Pay Structure and Training | first1=Samuel |last1=Muehlemann |first2=Paul |last2=Ryan |first3=Stefan C. |last3=Wolter | journal=Industrial and Labor Relations Review | year=2013 | volume=66 | issue=5 | pages=1097–1114 | doi=10.1177/001979391306600504 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405024251/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246546086_Monopsony_Power_Pay_Structure_and_Training | archive-date=2018-04-05 | hdl=10419/51865 | s2cid=56051639 | hdl-access=free }}</ref> with the notable exceptions of professional sports<ref name="auto1"/> and (with some disagreement<ref name="JLE">{{cite journal | url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dstaiger/Papers/2010/staiger%20spetz%20phibbs%20monopsony%20jole%202010.pdf | title=Is There Monopsony in the Labor Market? Evidence from a Natural Experiment | first1=Douglas O. |last1=Staiger |first2=Joanne |last2=Spetz |first3=Ciaran S. |last3=Phibbs | journal=Journal of Labor Economics | year=2010 | volume=28 | issue=2 | pages=211–236 | doi=10.1086/652734 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809040652/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dstaiger/Papers/2010/staiger%20spetz%20phibbs%20monopsony%20jole%202010.pdf | archive-date=2017-08-09 | citeseerx=10.1.1.713.2114 | s2cid=1920482 }}</ref>) nursing.<ref name="JHE">{{cite journal | url=https://www.angelfire.com/wizard/moti_gross/dl_files/labor/nurses.pdf | title=Monopsony Power and Relative Wages in the Labor Market for Nurses | first1=Barry |last1=Hirsch |first2=Edward J. |last2=Schumacher | journal=Journal of Health Economics | year=1995 | volume=14 | issue=4 | pages=443–476 | doi=10.1016/0167-6296(95)00013-8 | pmid=10153250 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810190515/http://www.angelfire.com/wizard/moti_gross/dl_files/labor/nurses.pdf | archive-date=2017-08-10 }}</ref><ref name="HCAFR">{{cite journal | url=https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=hca_faculty | title=Classic or New Monopsony? Searching for Evidence in Nursing Labor Markets | first1=Barry T. |last1=Hirsch |first2=Edward J. |last2=Schumacher | journal=Health Care Administration Faculty Research | year=2005 | volume=24 | issue=5 | pages=969–989 | doi=10.1016/j.jhealeco.2005.03.006 | pmid=16005089 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910141123/http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=hca_faculty | archive-date=2015-09-10 }}</ref> Both of these industries have highly specialized labor conditions and are generally not substitutable. According to a 2020 review of the existing literature on monopsony in labor markets, there is some evidence of monopsony power in higher income industries due to contractual limitations (non-competes for example) though the author notes that the large majority of economists do not ascribe notable monopsony effects to labor markets.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Manning|first=Alan|date=2020-06-01|title=Monopsony in Labor Markets: A Review|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/103482/1/MonopsonyILR_Revision.pdf|journal=ILR Review|volume=74|language=en-US|pages=3–26|doi=10.1177/0019793920922499|s2cid=213995471|issn=0019-7939}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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* [[Bilateral monopoly]] |
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* [[Canadian Wheat Board]] |
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* [[Captive supply]] |
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* [[Conflict theories]] |
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* [[Single-payer health care]] |
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* [[Single desk]] |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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==Further reading== |
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* {{cite journal |
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| doi = 10.2307/1926970 |
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| last1 = Atkinson | first1 = S.E. | first2 = J. | last2 = Kerkvliet |
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| year = 1989 | volume = 71 | issue = 2 | pages = 250–257 |
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| title = Dual Measures of Monopoly and Monopsony Power: An Application to Regulated Electric Utilities |
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| journal = The Review of Economics and Statistics |
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| jstor = 1926970 |
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}} |
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* {{cite journal |
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| doi = 10.1111/1468-0297.00427 |
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| last1 = Bhaskar | first1 = V. | first2 = T. | last2 = To |
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| year = 1999 | journal = The Economic Journal | volume = 109 | pages = 190–203 |
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| title = Minimum Wages for Ronald McDonald Monopsonies: A Theory of Monopsonistic Competition |
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| issue = 455 |
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| citeseerx = 10.1.1.195.6646 }} |
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* {{cite journal |
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| doi = 10.1257/0895330027300 |
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| last1 = Bhaskar | first1 = V. | first2 = A. | last2 = Manning | first3 = T. | last3 = To |
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| year = 2002 | volume = 16 | pages = 155–174 |
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| title = Oligopsony and Monopsonistic Competition in Labor Markets |
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| journal = Journal of Economic Perspectives |
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| issue = 2 |
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| doi-access = free}} |
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* {{cite journal |
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| last1 = Boal | first1 = W.M. |
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| year = 1995 | volume = 26 | issue = 3 | pages = 519–36 |
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| title = Testing for Employer Monopsony in Turn-of-the-Century Coal Mining |
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| journal = The RAND Journal of Economics |
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| doi = 10.1017/S002205070004119X |
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| jstor = 2556001 |
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| s2cid = 153960375 }} |
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* {{cite journal |
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| last1 = Boal | first1 = W.M. | first2 = M.R. | last2 = Ransom |
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| year = 1997 | volume = 35 | issue = 1 | pages = 86–112 |
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| title = Monopsony in the Labor Market |
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| journal = Journal of Economic Literature |
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}} |
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* {{cite journal |
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| doi = 10.2307/3003381 |
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| last1 = Just | first1 = R.E. | first2 = W.S. | last2 = Chern |
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| year = 1980 |
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| title = Tomatoes, Technology, and Oligopsony |
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| journal = The Bell Journal of Economics | volume = 11 | issue = 2 | pages = 584–602 |
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| jstor = 3003381 |
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| osti = 5651801 }} |
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* |
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* {{cite journal |
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| doi = 10.2307/2109909 |
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| last1 = Murray | first1 = B.C. |
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| year = 1995 |
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| title = Measuring Oligopsony Power with Shadow Prices: U.S. Markets for Pulpwood and Sawlogs |
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| journal = The Review of Economics and Statistics | volume = 77 | issue = 3 | pages = 486–98 |
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| jstor = 2109909 |
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}} |
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* {{cite book |
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| last1 = Robinson | first1 = J. |
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| year = 1933 |
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| title = The Economics of Imperfect Competition London: Macmillan |
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| url = https://archive.org/details/economicsofimper0000robi_u6j3 | url-access = registration }} |
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* {{cite journal |
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| doi = 10.1086/260309 |
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| last1 = Rodriguez | first1 = C.A. |
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| year = 1975 |
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| title = Trade in Technological Knowledge and the National Advantage |
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| journal = The Journal of Political Economy | volume = 83 | issue = 1 | pages = 121–36 |
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| s2cid = 155075199 }} |
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* {{cite journal |
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| doi = 10.2307/1928165 |
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| last1 = Schroeter | first1 = J.R. |
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| year = 1988 |
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| title = Estimating the Degree of Market Power in the Beef Packing Industry |
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| journal = The Review of Economics and Statistics | volume = 70 | issue = 1 | pages = 158–62 |
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| jstor = 1928165 |
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| url = http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/econ_las_pubs/84 }} |
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*[[Suresh Naidu]] and Eric A. Posner. 2021. "[http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/06/02/jhr.monopsony.0219-10030R1.abstract Labor Monopsony and the Limits of the Law.]" ''Journal of Human Resources'' |
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==External links== |
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{{Wiktionary}} |
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*{{cite web |
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| url = http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/boal.monopsony |
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| title = Monopsony in American Labor Markets |
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| access-date = 2005-12-12 |
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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060113102729/http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/article/boal.monopsony |
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| archive-date = 2006-01-13 |
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| url-status = dead |
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}} |
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{{microeconomics}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Monopsonies|*]] |
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[[Category:Market failure]] |
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[[Category:Monopoly (economics)]] |
Latest revision as of 04:32, 13 November 2024
Competition law |
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Basic concepts |
Anti-competitive practices |
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Quantity | one | two | few |
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Sellers | Monopoly | Duopoly | Oligopoly |
Buyers | Monopsony | Duopsony | Oligopsony |
In economics, a monopsony is a market structure in which a single buyer substantially controls the market as the major purchaser of goods and services offered by many would-be sellers. The microeconomic theory of monopsony assumes a single entity to have market power over all sellers as the only purchaser of a good or service. This is a similar power to that of a monopolist, which can influence the price for its buyers in a monopoly, where multiple buyers have only one seller of a good or service available to purchase from.
History
[edit]Monopsony theory was developed by economist Joan Robinson in her book The Economics of Imperfect Competition (1933).[1] Economists use the term "monopsony power" in a manner similar to "monopoly power", as a shorthand reference for a scenario in which there is one dominant power in the buying relationship, so that power is able to set prices to maximize profits not subject to competitive constraints. Monopsony power exists when one buyer faces little competition from other buyers for that labour or good, so they are able to set wages or prices for the labour or goods they are buying at a level lower than would be the case in a competitive market. In economic literature the term "monopsony" is predominantly used when referring to labour markets,[2] however could be applied to any industry, good or service where a buyer has market power over all sellers.
A classic theoretical example is a mining town, where the company that owns the mine is able to set wages low since they face no competition from other employers in hiring workers, because they are the only employer in the town, and geographic isolation or obstacles prevent workers from seeking employment in other locations. Other more current examples may include school districts where teachers have little mobility across districts. In such cases the district faces little competition from other schools in hiring teachers, giving the district increased power when negotiating employment terms.[3] Alternative terms are oligopsony or monopsonistic competition.
Etymology
[edit]The term "monopsony" (from Greek μόνος (mónos) "single" and ὀψωνία (opsōnía) "purchase")[4] was first introduced by the British economist Joan Robinson in her influential[1] book, The Economics of Imperfect Competition, published in 1933. Robinson credited classics scholar Bertrand Hallward at the University of Cambridge with coining the term.[4]
Static monopsony in a labour market
[edit]The standard textbook monopsony model of a labour market is a static partial equilibrium model with just one employer who pays the same wage to all the workers.[5] The employer faces an upward-sloping labour supply curve[2] (as generally contrasted with an infinitely elastic labour supply curve), represented by the S blue curve in the diagram on the right. This curve relates the wage paid, , to the level of employment, , and is denoted as an increasing function . Total labour costs are given by . The firm has total revenue , which increases with . The firm wants to choose to maximize profit, , which is given by:
- .
At the maximum profit , so the first-order condition for maximization is
where is the derivative of the function implying
The left-hand side of this expression, , is the marginal revenue product of labour (roughly, the extra revenue generated by an extra worker) and is represented by the red MRP curve in the diagram. The right-hand side is the marginal cost of labour (roughly, the extra cost due to an extra worker) and is represented by the green MC curve in the diagram. Notably, the marginal cost is higher than the wage paid to the new worker by the amount
- .
This is because, by assumption, the firm has to increase the wage paid to all the workers it already employs whenever it hires an extra worker. In the diagram, this leads to an MC curve that is above the labour supply curve S.
The first-order condition for maximum profit is then satisfied at point A of the diagram, where the MC and MRP curves intersect. This determines the profit-maximizing employment as L on the horizontal axis. The corresponding wage w is then obtained from the supply curve, through point M.
The monopsonistic equilibrium at M can be contrasted with the equilibrium that would obtain under competitive conditions. Suppose a competitive employer entered the market and offered a wage higher than that at M. Then every employee of the first employer would choose instead to work for the competitor. Moreover, the competitor would gain all the former profits of the first employer, minus a less-than-offsetting amount from the wage increase of the first employer's employees, plus profit arising from additional employees who decided to work in the market because of the wage increase. But the first employer would respond by offering an even higher wage, poaching the new rival's employees, and so forth. As a result, a group of perfectly competitive firms would be forced, through competition, to intersection C rather than M. Just as a monopoly is thwarted by the competition to win sales, minimizing prices and maximizing output, competition for employees between the employers in this case would maximize both wages and employment.
Welfare implications
[edit]The lower employment and wages caused by monopsony power have two distinct effects on the economic welfare of the people involved. Firstly, it redistributes welfare away from workers and to their employer(s).[2] Secondly, it reduces the aggregate (or social) welfare enjoyed by both groups taken together, as the employers' net gain is smaller than the loss inflicted on workers.
The diagram on the right illustrates both effects, using the standard approach based on the notion of economic surplus. According to this notion, the workers' economic surplus (or net gain from the exchange) is given by the area between the S curve and the horizontal line corresponding to the wage, up to the employment level. Similarly, the employers' surplus is the area between the horizontal line corresponding to the wage and the MRP curve, up to the employment level. The social surplus is then the sum of these two areas.[6]
Following such definitions, the grey rectangle, in the diagram, is the part of the competitive social surplus that has been redistributed from the workers to their employer(s) under monopsony. By contrast, the yellow triangle is the part of the competitive social surplus that has been lost by both parties, as a result of the monopsonistic restriction of employment.[6] This is a net social loss and is called deadweight loss. It is a measure of the market failure caused by monopsony power, through a wasteful misallocation of resources.
As the diagram suggests, the size of both effects increases with the difference between the marginal revenue product MRP and the market wage determined on the supply curve S. This difference corresponds to the vertical side of the yellow triangle, and can be expressed as a proportion of the market wage, according to the formula:
- .
The ratio has been called the rate of exploitation, and it can be easily shown that it equals the reciprocal of the elasticity of the labour supply curve faced by the firm. Thus the rate of exploitation[7] is zero under competitive conditions, when this elasticity tends to infinity. Empirical estimates of by various means are a common feature of the applied literature devoted to the measurement of observed monopsony power.
Finally, it is important to notice that, while the gray-area redistribution effect could be reversed by fiscal policy (i.e., taxing employers and transferring the tax revenue to the workers), this is not so for the yellow-area deadweight loss. The market failure can only be addressed in one of two ways: either by breaking up the monopsony through anti-trust intervention, or by regulating the wage policy of firms. The most common kind of regulation is a binding minimum wage higher than the monopsonistic wage.
Minimum wage
[edit]A binding minimum wage can be introduced either directly by law or through collective bargaining laws requiring union membership. While it is generally agreed that minimum wage price floors reduce employment,[8] economic literature has yet to form a consensus regarding the effects in the presence of monopsony power.[5] Some studies have shown that if monopsony power is present within a labour market the effect is reversed and a minimum wage could increase employment.[9]
This effect is demonstrated in the diagram on the right.
Here the minimum wage is w'', higher than the monopsonistic w. Because of the binding effects of minimum wage and the excess supply of labour (as defined by the monopsony status), the marginal cost of labour for the firm becomes constant (the price of hiring an additional worker rather than the increasing cost as labour becomes more scarce).[10] This means that the firm maximizes profit at the intersection of the new marginal cost line (MC' in the diagram) and Marginal Revenue Product line (the additional revenue for selling one more unit).[11] This is the point where it becomes more expensive to produce an additional item than is earned in revenue from selling that item.
This condition is still inefficient compared to a competitive market. The line segment represented by A—B shows that there are still workers who would like to find a job, but cannot due to the monopsonistic nature of this industry. This would represent the unemployment rate for this industry. This illustrates that there will be deadweight loss in a monopsonistic labour environment regardless of minimum wage levels, however a minimum wage law can increase total employment within the industry.
More generally, a binding minimum wage modifies the form of the supply curve faced by the firm, which becomes:
where is the original supply curve and is the minimum wage. The new curve has thus a horizontal first branch and a kink at the point
as is shown in the diagram by the kinked black curve MC' S (the black curve to the right of point B). The resulting equilibria (the profit-maximizing choices that rational companies will make) can then fall into one of three classes according to the value taken by the minimum wage, as shown by the following table:
Minimum wage | Resulting equilibrium | |
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First Case | < monopsony wage | where the monopsony wage intersects the supply curve (S) |
Second Case | > monopsony wage but ≤ competitive wage (the intersection of S and MRP) |
at the intersection of the minimum wage and the supply curve (S) |
Third Case | > competitive wage | at intersection where minimum wage equals MRP |
Yet, even when it is sub-optimal, a minimum wage higher than the monopsonistic rate can raises the level of employment anyway. This is a highly remarkable result because it only follows under monopsony. Indeed, under competitive conditions any minimum wage higher than the market rate would actually reduce employment, according to classical economic models and the consensus of peer-reviewed work.[8] Thus, spotting the effects on employment of newly introduced minimum wage regulations is among the indirect ways economists use to pin down monopsony power in selected labour markets. This technique was used, for example in a series of studies looking at the American labour market that found monopsonies existed only in several specialized fields such as professional sports and college professors.[12][13]
Wage discrimination
[edit]Just like a monopolist, a monopsonistic employer may find that its profits are maximized if it discriminates prices. In this case the company pays different wages to different groups of workers (even if their MRP is the same), with lower wages paid to the workers who have a lower elasticity of supply of their labour to the firm.
Researchers have used this fact to explain at least part of the observed wage differentials whereby women often earn less than men, even after controlling for observed productivity differentials. Robinson's original application of monopsony (1938) was developed to explain wage differentials between equally productive women and men.[14] Ransom and Oaxaca (2004) found that women's wage elasticity is lower than that of men for employees at a grocery store chain in Missouri, controlling for other factors typically associated with wage determination.[15] Ransom and Lambson (2011) found that female teachers are paid less than male teachers due to differences in labour market mobility constraints facing women and men.[16]
Some authors have argued informally that, while this is so for market supply, the reverse may somehow be true of the supply to individual firms. In particular, Manning and others have shown that, in the case of the UK Equal Pay Act, implementation has led to higher employment of women. Since the Act was effectively minimum wage legislation for women, this might perhaps be interpreted as a symptom of monopsonistic discrimination.
Standard labor market models assume that workers have accurate information about their outside options and subsequently negotiate with their employer to raise their wages so they match outside offers or switch jobs. However, a 2024 study of German workers in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that they severely underestimated the wages that they would earn at other jobs. This underestimation of outside wages could contribute to monopsony power for employers.[17]
Dynamic models of monopsony
[edit]More recent labor market models of monopsony[5][2] have indicated that some monopsonistic power is likely present in otherwise competitive markets. Its cause can be linked to imperfect information as a result of search frictions.[2] This may indicate companies operating under competitive market conditions have some limited discretion to manipulate wage rates without losing employees to competitors that is associated with the search friction in that market (ie how hard it is to find and secure another job). This modern perspective of dynamic monopsony[5] first proposed by Allan Manning (2003), also results in an upward sloping labor supply curve, and is more practical as it incorporates multiple employers in a competitive market whilst also allowing for search frictions, and a costly search.[14]
Empirical problems
[edit]The simpler explanation of monopsony power in labour markets is barriers to entry on the demand side. Such barriers to entry would result in a limited number of companies competing for labour (oligopsony). If the hypothesis was generally true, one would expect to find that wages decreased as firm size increased or, more accurately, as industry concentration increased. However, numerous statistical studies document significant positive correlations between firm or establishment size and wages.[18] These results are often explained as being the result of cross-industry competition. For example, if there were only one fast food producer, that industry would be very consolidated. The company, however, would be unable to drive down wages via monopsonistic power if it were also competing against retail stores, construction, and other jobs utilizing the same labour skill set. This finding is both intuitive (low-skilled labour can move more fluidly through different industries) and supported by a study of American labor markets which found monopsony effects were limited to professional sports, teaching, and nursing, fields where skill sets limit moving to comparably paid other industries.[12]
However, monopsony power might also be due to circumstances affecting entry of workers on the supply side (like in the referenced case above), directly reducing the elasticity of labour supply to firms. Paramount among these are industry accreditation or licensing fees, regulatory constraints, training or education requirements, and the institutional factors that limit labour mobility between firms, including job protection legislation.
An alternative that has been suggested as a source of monopsony power is worker preferences over job characteristics.[19][20] Such job characteristics can include distance from work, type of work, location, the social environment at work, etc. If different workers have different preferences, employers could have local monopsony power over workers that strongly prefer working for them.
Empirical evidence of monopsony power has been relatively limited. In line with the considerations discussed above, but perhaps counter to common intuition, there is no observable monopsony power in low-skilled labour markets in the US.[12] Though there has been at least one study finding monopsony power in Indonesia due to barriers to entry in developing countries.[21] Several studies expanding their view for monopsony power have found economic and labor mobility in the US precludes any detectable monopsony effects[22] with the notable exceptions of professional sports[12] and (with some disagreement[23]) nursing.[24][25] Both of these industries have highly specialized labor conditions and are generally not substitutable. According to a 2020 review of the existing literature on monopsony in labor markets, there is some evidence of monopsony power in higher income industries due to contractual limitations (non-competes for example) though the author notes that the large majority of economists do not ascribe notable monopsony effects to labor markets.[26]
See also
[edit]- Bilateral monopoly
- Canadian Wheat Board
- Captive supply
- Conflict theories
- Single-payer health care
- Single desk
References
[edit]- ^ a b Robinson, Joan (1969). The Economics of Imperfect Competition. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-15320-6. ISBN 978-0-333-10289-3.
- ^ a b c d e Ashenfelter, Orley; Farber, Henry; Ransom, Michael (2010). "Labor Market Monopsony". Journal of Labor Economics. 28 (2): 203–210. doi:10.1086/653654. ISSN 0734-306X. JSTOR 10.1086/653654. S2CID 154920182.
- ^ Ransom, Michael; Sims, David (2010). "Estimating the Firm's Labor Supply Curve in a "New Monopsony" Framework: Schoolteachers in Missouri". Journal of Labor Economics. 28 (2): 331–355. doi:10.1086/649904. hdl:10419/35295. ISSN 0734-306X. JSTOR 10.1086/649904. S2CID 19545337 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b Thornton, Rupert J. (2004). "Retrospectives: How Joan Robinson and B. L. Hallward Named Monopsony". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 18 (2): 257–261. doi:10.1257/0895330041371240.
- ^ a b c d Manning, Alan (2003). Monopsony in Motion: Imperfect Competition in Labor Markets. Princeston University Press: Princeton University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt5hhpvk. ISBN 978-0-691-12328-8. JSTOR j.ctt5hhpvk.
- ^ a b Blair, Roger D.; Harrison, Jeffrey L. (2010-09-06). Monopsony in Law and Economics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-49097-9.
- ^ Flatau, Paul (2001-01-01). "Some Reflections on the 'Pigou-Robinson' Theory of Exploitation". History of Economics Review. 33 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1080/10370196.2001.11733346. ISSN 1037-0196. S2CID 55190294.
- ^ a b "Minimum Wage Effects in the Post-welfare Reform Era" (PDF). 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-05-06.
- ^ Stigler, George J. (1946). "The Economics of Minimum Wage Legislation". The American Economic Review. 36 (3): 358–365. ISSN 0002-8282. JSTOR 1801842.
- ^ "The Minimum Wage and Monopsony". The Library of Economics and Liberty. 2015. Archived from the original on 2018-02-13.
- ^ "The Minimum Wage and Monopsony". The Library of Economics and Liberty. 2013. Archived from the original on 2018-02-13.
- ^ a b c d "Monopsony in American Labor Markets". 2017. Archived from the original on 2018-03-19.
- ^ "Is There Monopsony in the Labor Market? Evidence from a Natural Experiment" (PDF). 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-09.
- ^ a b R.L. Oaxaca. "Notes on Monopsony Model of Gender Wage Gaps" (PDF). University of Arizona. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
- ^ http://dataspace.princeton.edu/jspui/bitstream/88435/dsp01nk322d34x/1/540.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Ransom, Michael R.; Lambson, Val Eugene (2011). "Monopsony, mobility, and sex differences in pay : Missouri school teachers". Econbiz.de. The American economic review. - Nashville, Tenn : American Economic Assoc, ISSN 0002-8282, ZDB-ID 203590-x. - Vol. 101.2011, 3, p. 454-459. 101 (3). Archived from the original on 2014-02-03.
- ^ Jäger, Simon; Roth, Christopher; Roussille, Nina; Schoefer, Benjamin (2024). Worker Beliefs About Outside Options. Quarterly Journal of Economics (Report). Vol. 139. pp. 1505–1556. doi:10.1093/qje/qjae001. hdl:10419/250624.
- ^ Green, Francis; Machin, Stephen; Manning, Alan (1996). "The Employer Size-Wage Effect: Can Dynamic Monopsony Provide an Explanation?". Oxford Economic Papers. 48 (3): 433–455. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.oep.a028577. ISSN 0030-7653. JSTOR 2663717.
- ^ Bhaskar, V.; To, Ted (2001). "Minimum Wages for Ronald McDonald Monopsonies: a Theory of Monopsonistic Competition". The Economic Journal. 109 (455): 190–203. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.195.6646. doi:10.1111/1468-0297.00427.
- ^ Bhaskar, V.; Manning, Alan; To, Ted (2002). "Oligopsony and Monopsonistic Competition in Labor Markets" (PDF). Journal of Economic Perspectives. 16 (2): 155–274. doi:10.1257/0895330027300.
- ^ Brummond, Peter (2010). "Evidence of Monopsony in the Labor Market of a Developing Country" (PDF). Cornell University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-04-05.
- ^ Muehlemann, Samuel; Ryan, Paul; Wolter, Stefan C. (2013). "Monopsony Power, Pay Structure and Training". Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 66 (5): 1097–1114. doi:10.1177/001979391306600504. hdl:10419/51865. S2CID 56051639. Archived from the original on 2018-04-05.
- ^ Staiger, Douglas O.; Spetz, Joanne; Phibbs, Ciaran S. (2010). "Is There Monopsony in the Labor Market? Evidence from a Natural Experiment" (PDF). Journal of Labor Economics. 28 (2): 211–236. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.713.2114. doi:10.1086/652734. S2CID 1920482. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-09.
- ^ Hirsch, Barry; Schumacher, Edward J. (1995). "Monopsony Power and Relative Wages in the Labor Market for Nurses" (PDF). Journal of Health Economics. 14 (4): 443–476. doi:10.1016/0167-6296(95)00013-8. PMID 10153250. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-10.
- ^ Hirsch, Barry T.; Schumacher, Edward J. (2005). "Classic or New Monopsony? Searching for Evidence in Nursing Labor Markets". Health Care Administration Faculty Research. 24 (5): 969–989. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2005.03.006. PMID 16005089. Archived from the original on 2015-09-10.
- ^ Manning, Alan (2020-06-01). "Monopsony in Labor Markets: A Review" (PDF). ILR Review. 74: 3–26. doi:10.1177/0019793920922499. ISSN 0019-7939. S2CID 213995471.
Further reading
[edit]- Atkinson, S.E.; Kerkvliet, J. (1989). "Dual Measures of Monopoly and Monopsony Power: An Application to Regulated Electric Utilities". The Review of Economics and Statistics. 71 (2): 250–257. doi:10.2307/1926970. JSTOR 1926970.
- Bhaskar, V.; To, T. (1999). "Minimum Wages for Ronald McDonald Monopsonies: A Theory of Monopsonistic Competition". The Economic Journal. 109 (455): 190–203. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.195.6646. doi:10.1111/1468-0297.00427.
- Bhaskar, V.; Manning, A.; To, T. (2002). "Oligopsony and Monopsonistic Competition in Labor Markets". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 16 (2): 155–174. doi:10.1257/0895330027300.
- Boal, W.M. (1995). "Testing for Employer Monopsony in Turn-of-the-Century Coal Mining". The RAND Journal of Economics. 26 (3): 519–36. doi:10.1017/S002205070004119X. JSTOR 2556001. S2CID 153960375.
- Boal, W.M.; Ransom, M.R. (1997). "Monopsony in the Labor Market". Journal of Economic Literature. 35 (1): 86–112.
- Just, R.E.; Chern, W.S. (1980). "Tomatoes, Technology, and Oligopsony". The Bell Journal of Economics. 11 (2): 584–602. doi:10.2307/3003381. JSTOR 3003381. OSTI 5651801.
- Murray, B.C. (1995). "Measuring Oligopsony Power with Shadow Prices: U.S. Markets for Pulpwood and Sawlogs". The Review of Economics and Statistics. 77 (3): 486–98. doi:10.2307/2109909. JSTOR 2109909.
- Robinson, J. (1933). The Economics of Imperfect Competition London: Macmillan.
- Rodriguez, C.A. (1975). "Trade in Technological Knowledge and the National Advantage". The Journal of Political Economy. 83 (1): 121–36. doi:10.1086/260309. S2CID 155075199.
- Schroeter, J.R. (1988). "Estimating the Degree of Market Power in the Beef Packing Industry". The Review of Economics and Statistics. 70 (1): 158–62. doi:10.2307/1928165. JSTOR 1928165.
- Suresh Naidu and Eric A. Posner. 2021. "Labor Monopsony and the Limits of the Law." Journal of Human Resources
External links
[edit]- "Monopsony in American Labor Markets". Archived from the original on 2006-01-13. Retrieved 2005-12-12.