Asymmetric market power and wage suppression

B-Tier
Journal: Scandanavian Journal of Economics
Year: 2024
Volume: 126
Issue: 1
Pages: 38-59

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We study a labor market in which two identical firms compete over a pool of homogeneous workers. Firms pre‐commit to their outreach to potential employees, either through their informative advertising choices, or through their screening processes, before engaging in a wage (Bertrand) competition. Although firms are homogeneous, the unique pure‐strategy equilibrium is asymmetric: one firm maximizes its outreach whereas the other compromises on a significantly smaller market share. The features of the asymmetric equilibrium extend to a general oligopsony with any finite number of firms.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:scandj:v:126:y:2024:i:1:p:38-59
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25