Understanding High-Wage Firms: Monopoly, Monopsony, and Bargaining Power

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Research question and motivation: Why do some firms pay persistently higher wages for observably similar workers, and what role do firms’ product-market power (monopoly/markups), labor-market power (monopsony/markdowns), and workers’ collective bargaining power play in shaping wages and welfare? Prior literature studies labor-market power as a driver of wages/profits but abstracts from product-market power and bargaining, while the markups literature abstracts from imperfect labor competition and bargaining. The paper unifies all three in one structural framework.

Horng Chern Wong | Macro Paper Warehouse

Understanding High-Wage Firms: Monopoly, Monopsony, and Bargaining Power