Walras-Bowley Lecture: Market Power and Wage Inequality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Deb, Shubhdeep; Eeckhout, Jan; Patel, Aseem; Warren, Lawrence
• 署名单位: Pompeu Fabra University; Pompeu Fabra University; University of Essex
• 刊物名称: ECONOMETRICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0012-9682
• DOI: 10.3982/ECTA21157
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 603-636
• 关键词: RISE; TRADE; FIRMS; EVOLUTION; origins; IMPACT; skills; tasks

摘要

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.