IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/emetrp/v92y2024i3p603-636.html

Walras–Bowley Lecture: Market Power and Wage Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Shubhdeep Deb
  • Jan Eeckhout
  • Aseem Patel
  • Lawrence Warren

Abstract

We propose a theory of how market power affects wage inequality. We ask how goods and labor market power jointly determine the level of wages, the skill premium, and wage inequality. We then use detailed microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau between 1997 and 2016 to estimate the parameters of labor supply, technology, and the market structure. We find that a less competitive market structure lowers the average wage of high‐skilled workers by 11.3%, and of low‐skilled workers by 12.2%, contributes 8.1% to the rise in the skill premium, and accounts for 54.8% of the increase in between‐establishment wage variance.

Suggested Citation

  • Shubhdeep Deb & Jan Eeckhout & Aseem Patel & Lawrence Warren, 2024. "Walras–Bowley Lecture: Market Power and Wage Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(3), pages 603-636, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:emetrp:v:92:y:2024:i:3:p:603-636
    DOI: 10.3982/ECTA21157
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA21157
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3982/ECTA21157?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Card & Jörg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2013. "Workplace Heterogeneity and the Rise of West German Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(3), pages 967-1015.
    2. Vasco M. Carvalho & Basile Grassi, 2019. "Large Firm Dynamics and the Business Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1375-1425, April.
    3. Xavier Giroud & Joshua Rauh, 2019. "State Taxation and the Reallocation of Business Activity: Evidence from Establishment-Level Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(3), pages 1262-1316.
    4. Jan De Loecker, 2011. "Product Differentiation, Multiproduct Firms, and Estimating the Impact of Trade Liberalization on Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1407-1451, September.
    5. Shubhdeep Deb & Jan Eeckhout & Aseem Patel & Lawrence Warren, 2022. "What Drives Wage Stagnation: Monopsony or Monopoly?," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(6), pages 2181-2225.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    7. Mary Amiti & Oleg Itskhoki & Jozef Konings, 2019. "International Shocks, Variable Markups, and Domestic Prices," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(6), pages 2356-2402.
    8. José Azar & Xavier Vives, 2021. "Reply to: Comments on “General Equilibrium Oligopoly and Ownership Structure”," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(3), pages 1061-1063, May.
    9. Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & James C. Davis & Richard Freeman, 2016. "It's Where You Work: Increases in the Dispersion of Earnings across Establishments and Individuals in the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S2), pages 67-97.
    10. Freund, L. B., 2022. "Superstar Teams," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2276, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    11. Thibaut Lamadon & Magne Mogstad & Bradley Setzler, 2022. "Imperfect Competition, Compensating Differentials, and Rent Sharing in the US Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(1), pages 169-212, January.
    12. Christina Håkanson & Erik Lindqvist & Jonas Vlachos, 2021. "Firms and Skills: The Evolution of Worker Sorting," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(2), pages 512-538.
    13. repec:cam:camjip:2235 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Xavier Gabaix, 2011. "The Granular Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 733-772, May.
    15. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2022. "Tasks, Automation, and the Rise in U.S. Wage Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(5), pages 1973-2016, September.
    16. José Azar & Xavier Vives, 2021. "General Equilibrium Oligopoly and Ownership Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(3), pages 999-1048, May.
    17. repec:bge:wpaper:1361 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. David Rezza Baqaee & Emmanuel Farhi, 2019. "The Macroeconomic Impact of Microeconomic Shocks: Beyond Hulten's Theorem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(4), pages 1155-1203, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Juan Duran & Iulia Siedschlag, 2025. "Multinational Enterprises and Between‐Firm Wage Inequality Across European Regions," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(11), pages 2447-2466, November.
    2. Hua, Sudong, 2025. "Brand capital and rent sharing: Evidence from firm-level data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    3. Jose Garcia-Louzao & Alessandro Ruggieri, 2023. "Labor Market Competition and Inequality," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 117, Bank of Lithuania.
    4. Malik Curuk & Jérôme Héricourt & Gonzague Vannoorenberghe, 2025. "Labor Market Power, Export Prices and Pass-through," Working Papers 2025-15, CEPII research center.
    5. Patrick M. Kline, 2025. "Labor Market Monopsony: Fundamentals and Frontiers," NBER Working Papers 33467, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Yanne Gabriella Velomasy & Hongsheng Zhang & Laixun Zhao, 2026. "Imported Intermediate Digital Inputs and Income Inequality," Discussion Paper Series DP2026-01, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shubhdeep Deb & Jan Eeckhout & Aseem Patel & Lawrence Warren, 2022. "Market Power And Wage Inequality," Working Papers 22-37, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Pawe{l} Gola & Yuejun Zhao, 2024. "A Firm Link: Overall, Between- and Within-Firm Inequality Through the Lens of a Sorting Model," Papers 2410.11532, arXiv.org.
    3. Matteo G. Richiardi & Luis Valenzuela, 2024. "Firm heterogeneity and the aggregate labour share," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 38(1), pages 66-101, March.
    4. Xavier Gabaix & Ralph S. J. Koijen, 2024. "Granular Instrumental Variables," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(7), pages 2274-2303.
    5. Brand, Claus & Obstbaum, Meri & Coenen, Günter & Sondermann, David & Lydon, Reamonn & Ajevskis, Viktors & Hammermann, Felix & Angino, Siria & Hernborg, Nils & Basso, Henrique & Hertweck, Matthias & Bi, 2021. "Employment and the conduct of monetary policy in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 275, European Central Bank.
    6. Mertens, Matthias, 2023. "Labor Market Power and Between-Firm Wage (In)Equality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Freund, L. B., 2022. "Superstar Teams," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2276, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. repec:cam:camjip:2235 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Labanca, Claudio & Pozzoli, Dario, 2022. "Hours Constraints and Wage Differentials across Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 14992, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Ernesto Pasten & Raphael S. Schoenle & Michael Weber & Michael Weber, 2017. "Price Rigidities and the Granular Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations," CESifo Working Paper Series 6619, CESifo.
    11. Jannati, Sima, 2020. "Geographic spillover of dominant firms’ shocks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    12. Thomas A. Gresik & Guttorm Schjelderup, 2024. "Transfer pricing under global adoption of destination-based cash-flow taxation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(1), pages 243-261, February.
    13. Vallès Codina, Oriol, 2023. "Business cycles, sectoral price stabilization, and climate change mitigation: A model of multi-sector growth in the tradition of the Bielefeld disequilibrium approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 636-653.
    14. Huang, Hanwei & Manova, Kalina & Perello, Oscar & Pisch, Frank, 2024. "Firm heterogeneity and imperfect competition in global production networks," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126808, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. repec:ces:ceswps:_11302 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Vives, Xavier & Vravosinos, Orestis, 2024. "Strategic complementarity in games," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    17. Gaubert, Cecile & Itskhoki, Oleg & Vogler, Maximilian, 2021. "Government policies in a granular global economy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 95-112.
    18. Malik Curuk & Jérôme Héricourt & Gonzague Vannoorenberghe, 2025. "Labor Market Power, Export Prices and Pass-through," Working Papers 2025-15, CEPII research center.
    19. Imbs, Jean & Pauwels, Laurent, 2019. "Fundamental Moments," Working Papers BAWP-2019-06, University of Sydney Business School, Discipline of Business Analytics.
    20. Michael Weber & Ali Ozdagli, 2016. "Monetary Policy Through Production Networks: Evidence from the Stock Market," 2016 Meeting Papers 148, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    21. Ernesto Pastén & Raphael Schoenle & Michael Weber, 2017. "Price Rigidity and the Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations," NBER Working Papers 23750, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Moser, Christian & Saidi, Farzad & Wirth, Benjamin & Wolter, Stefanie, 2020. "Credit Supply, Firms, and Earnings Inequality," MPRA Paper 100371, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:emetrp:v:92:y:2024:i:3:p:603-636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/essssea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.