Is There Monopsony in the Labor Market? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Labor Economics
Year: 2010
Volume: 28
Issue: 2
Pages: 211-236

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

Recent theoretical and empirical advances have renewed interest in monopsonistic models of the labor market. However, there is little direct empirical support for these models. We use an exogenous change in wages at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals as a natural experiment to investigate the extent of monopsony in the nurse labor market. We estimate that labor supply to individual hospitals is quite inelastic, with short-run elasticity around 0.1. We also find that non-VA hospitals responded to the VA wage change by changing their own wages. (c) 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jlabec:v:28:y:2010:i:2:p:211-236
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-29