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Retrospectives: How Joan Robinson and B. L. Hallward Named Monopsony

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  • Robert J. Thornton

Abstract

The term "monopsony" was introduced by Joan Robinson in her 1932 classic The Economics of Imperfect Competition, although she gives credit to classics scholar B.L. Hallward of Cambridge for the actual coining of the term. Even though the term has become widely accepted by economists, its literal meaning is more idiosyncratic than simply "one buyer" of a commodity or service. In this paper I discuss the etymology of the term monopsony and suggest several other words that would seem to be more appropriate for describing this market phenomenon.

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  • Robert J. Thornton, 2004. "Retrospectives: How Joan Robinson and B. L. Hallward Named Monopsony," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(2), pages 257-261, Spring.
  • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:18:y:2004:i:2:p:257-261
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/0895330041371240
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    Cited by:

    1. Dev Nathan, 2021. "From Monopoly to Monopsony Capitalism," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(4), pages 843-866, December.
    2. Wei-Bin Zhang, 2020. "Monopsony and Discrimination in Labor Market in the Solow-Stiglitz Two-Group Neoclassical Growth Model," World Journal of Applied Economics, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 6(1), pages 1-19, June.
    3. Jonathan Conning, 2004. "The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom and the Roads to Agrarian Capitalism: Domar's Hypothesis Revisited," Economics Working Paper Archive at Hunter College 401, Hunter College Department of Economics.

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