Monopsony and the Worker

Jordan Weissmann reports on a study entitled "Labor Market Concentration" (José Azar, Ioana Marinescu, & Marshall I. Steinbaum, 2017), which argues that many employees in America are working in an environment where a "lack of competition among employers gives businesses outsize power over workers, including the ability to tamp down on pay ." Weissmann contends that this should be considered when governments set economic policy, including approving the mergers of huge companies.

-DD

Google Now Estimates a Position's Wage

Nick Zakrasek reports that Google's job search offering now provides estimated salaries.

The original announcement for job search is here. -DD

Baumol's "Cost Disease" and the Price of Education

Timothy Lee explains William Baumol's economic theory, called cost disease , which explains why personnel-intensive services such as education are becoming more expensive than material goods which can be produced by automation. It is a problem of scaling and values.

-DD