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Imperfect Competition and Rents in Labor and Product Markets: The Case of the Construction Industry

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  • Kory Kroft
  • Yao Luo
  • Magne Mogstad
  • Bradley Setzler

Abstract

We quantify the importance of imperfect competition in the US construction industry by estimating the size of rents earned by American firms and workers. To obtain a comprehensive measure of the total rents and to understand its sources, we take into account that rents may arise due to markdown of wages in the labor market, or markup of prices in the product market, or both. Our analyses combine the universe of US business and worker tax records with newly collected records from US procurement auctions. We use this data to identify and estimate a model where construction firms compete with one another for projects in the product market and for workers in the labor market. The firms may participate both in the private market and in government projects procured through auctions. We find evidence of considerable wage- and price-setting power. This imperfect competition creates sizable rents, three-fourths of which is captured by the firms. The incentives of firms to mark down wages and reduce employment due to wage-setting power are attenuated by their price-setting power in the product market.

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  • Kory Kroft & Yao Luo & Magne Mogstad & Bradley Setzler, 2021. "Imperfect Competition and Rents in Labor and Product Markets: The Case of the Construction Industry," Working Papers tecipa-695, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-695
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    Cited by:

    1. David Berger & Kyle Herkenhoff & Simon Mongey, 2022. "Labor Market Power," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1147-1193, April.
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    3. Francesco Amodio & Nicolás de Roux, 2021. "Labor Market Power in Developing Countries: Evidence from Colombian Plants," Documentos CEDE 19267, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    4. David Berger & Kyle Herkenhoff & Andreas R. Kostøl & Simon Mongey, 2024. "An Anatomy of Monopsony: Search Frictions, Amenities, and Bargaining in Concentrated Markets," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(1), pages 1-47.
    5. Attila Lindner & Balazs Murakozy & Balazs Reizer & Ragnhild Schreiner, 2022. "Firm-level technological change and skill demand," CEP Discussion Papers dp1857, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Sezer, Ayse Hazal & Uras, Burak, 2024. "Firms and Unions," Discussion Paper 2024-006, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    7. Monica Langella & Alan Manning, 2021. "Marshall Lecture 2020: The Measure of Monopsony [Monopsony in the UK]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(6), pages 2929-2957.
    8. Thibaut Lamadon & Magne Mogstad & Bradley Setzler, 2022. "Imperfect Competition, Compensating Differentials, and Rent Sharing in the US Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(1), pages 169-212, January.
    9. Peter Hull & Michal Kolesár & Christopher Walters, 2022. "Labor by design: contributions of David Card, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(3), pages 603-645, July.
    10. Jack Fisher, 2024. "Monopsony Power in the Gig Economy," CESifo Working Paper Series 11444, CESifo.
    11. Dami'an Vergara, 2022. "Minimum Wages and Optimal Redistribution," Papers 2202.00839, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2022.
    12. Schmieder, Johannes F., 2023. "Establishment age and wages," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 424-442.
    13. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2021. "Answering causal questions using observational data," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2021-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    14. Sezer, Ayse Hazal & Uras, Burak, 2024. "Firms and Unions," Other publications TiSEM 81a58c37-dd82-442d-aab1-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Alonso Alfaro Urena & Isabela Manelici & Jose P. Vasquez, 2021. "The Effects of Multinationals on Workers: Evidence from Costa Rican Microdata," Working Papers 285, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    16. Langella, Monica & Manning, Alan Patrick, 2021. "The measure of monopsony," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113925, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Agnes Norris Keiller & Tim Obermeier & Andreas Teichgraeber & John Van Reenen, 2024. "An Engine of (Pay) Growth? Productivity and Wages in the UK Auto Industry," NBER Working Papers 32695, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Ihsaan Bassier & Arindrajit Dube & Suresh Naidu, 2020. "Monopsony in Movers: The Elasticity of Labor Supply to Firm Wage Policies," NBER Working Papers 27755, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Julian Alves & Jason Greenberg & Yaxin Guo & Ravija Harjai & Bruno Serra-Lorenzo & John Van Reenen, 2024. "Labour market power: New evidence on Non-Compete Agreements and the effects of M&A in the UK," CEP Discussion Papers dp1976, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    20. Amano-Patiño, N. & Aramburu, J. & Contractor, Z., 2022. "Is Affirmative Action in Employment Still Effective in the 21st Century?," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2262, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    21. Quintero, Luis E. & Roberts, Mark, 2023. "Cities and productivity: Evidence from 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    22. Munch, Jakob R. & Olney, William W., 2024. "Offshoring and the Decline of Unions," IZA Discussion Papers 17116, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    imperfect competition; monopsony; market power; rents; rent sharing; auction; procurement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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