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Policy Brief: Employer Market Power in Silicon Valley

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  • Gibson, Matthew

    (Williams College)

Abstract

Adam Smith alleged that secret employer collusion to reduce labor earnings is common. This paper examines an important case of such behavior: no-poach agreements through which technology companies agreed not to compete for each other's workers. Exploiting the plausibly random timing of a US Department of Justice investigation, I estimate that these agreements cost affected workers approximately 5 percent of annual salary. Stock bonuses and ratings of job satisfaction were also negatively affected.

Suggested Citation

  • Gibson, Matthew, 2021. "Policy Brief: Employer Market Power in Silicon Valley," IZA Policy Papers 182, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izapps:pp182
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    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/pp182.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Azar, José & Marinescu, Ioana & Steinbaum, Marshall & Taska, Bledi, 2020. "Concentration in US labor markets: Evidence from online vacancy data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
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    Cited by:

    1. Bassanini, Andrea & Batut, Cyprien & Caroli, Eve, 2023. "Labor Market Concentration and Wages: Incumbents versus New Hires," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Paolo Martellini & Todd Schoellman & Jason Sockin, 2024. "The Global Distribution of College Graduate Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(2), pages 434-483.
    3. Timothy Perri Perri, 2023. "The Death of Labor Market Competition Has Been Greatly Exaggerated," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 38(Summer 20), pages 39-54.
    4. Susan Athey & Mark Chicu & Malika Krishna & Ioana Marinescu, 2023. "The Year in Review: Economics at the Antitrust Division, 2022–2023," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 63(4), pages 525-544, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    monopsony; oligopsony; employer market power; labor earnings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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