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Exploitation of labor? Classical monopsony power and labor's share

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  • Brooks, Wyatt J.
  • Kaboski, Joseph P.
  • Li, Yao Amber
  • Qian, Wei

Abstract

How important is the exercise of classical monopsony power against labor for the level of wages and labor's share? We examine this in the context of China and India – two large, rapidly-growing developing economies. Using theory, we develop a novel method to quantify how wages are affected by the exertion of market power in labor markets. The theory guides the measurement of labor “markdowns,” i.e., the gap between wage and the value of the marginal product of labor, and the method examines how they comove with local labor market share. Applying this method, we find that market power substantially lowers labor's share of income: by up to 11 percentage points in China and 13 percentage points in India. This impact has fallen over time in both countries, however.

Suggested Citation

  • Brooks, Wyatt J. & Kaboski, Joseph P. & Li, Yao Amber & Qian, Wei, 2021. "Exploitation of labor? Classical monopsony power and labor's share," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:150:y:2021:i:c:s0304387821000043
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102627
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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