Insider Power, Wage Discrimination and Fairness

The exercise of insider power is frequently considered as a major cause of involuntary unemployment. The authors show that under standard assumptions--insiders are selfish and they need not fear the loss of their job--insider power does not cause unemployment but leads to the introduction of a market-clearing, two-tier wage system. Yet, while insider power is a common phenomenon, two-tier systems are rarely observed. To explain this fact, the authors introduce interdependent preferences. They show that, if entrants exhibit a preference for fairness, the presence of insider power gives rise to an efficiency wage effect that may prevent the introduction of market-clearing, two-tier systems. Copyright 1994 by Royal Economic Society.