【Brownbag】Robinson Meets Roy: Monopsony Power and Comparative Advantage
2025/07/25
研討會日期 : 2025-07-25
時間 : 12:10
主講人 : Professor Kai-Jie Wu (吳愷頡)
地點 : Conference Room B110
演講者簡介 : Professor Kai-Jie Wu received his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Rochester in 2023. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University. His research fields are Macroeconomics, Economic Growth, and Labor Economics.
演講摘要 : We provide a number of insights into the nature and consequences of monopsony power through the lens of comparative advantage, where employers' power in wage setting stems from match-specific rents. Chief among them is that employers will apply larger wage markdowns to workers with greater comparative advantage at their firm. This leads to stronger monopsony power over more productive workers, provided the workers' comparative advantage aligns with their absolute advantage. Using Brazilian administrative data, we confirm this prediction: monopsony disproportionately affects high-wage workers within firms and workers at high-paying firms. The model, calibrated to our estimates for Brazil, predicts minimum wages increase wages and formal employment for more productive workers while pushing less productive workers out of formal employment.
