Working paper available through PEDL. Published article available here.
Abstract
Labor market subcontracting is a global phenomenon. Basu et al. (2019) present a theory of wage fairness in a subcontracted labor market, where workers confront multi-party employment relationships and deep wage inequities between regular and subcontractor-mediated hires. They show that subcontracting derives its appeal from a downward revision of workers' fair wage demand when producers delegate employment decisions down the supply chain. Furthermore, subcontracting creates a holdup problem, resulting in wages that workers deem unfair, along with adverse worker morale consequences in equilibrium. These insights reveal the efficiency costs of subcontracting as an employer strategy to redress workers' demand for fair wages.
Hardy and McCasland (2021) report on an experiment that brings insights from the literature on demand-side determinants of technology adoption to the study of peer-to-peer diffusion.
A general equilibrium model featuring multiple realistic sources of financial frictions is developed to study how different constraints interact in equilibrium.
A common concern with efforts to directly help some small businesses to grow is that their growth comes at the expense of their unassisted competitors.
Firms use relational contracts to support repeated trade. Do these informal agreements evolve in response to market conditions? In a market for ice, firms reestablish relationships on new terms when a prior agreement breaks down.
A general equilibrium model featuring multiple realistic sources of financial frictions is developed to study how different constraints interact in equilibrium.
Molina and Tanaka (2020) examine whether globalization promotes female empowerment by improving the jobs available to women. Previous work has documented that exporting causally improved working conditions at predominantly female garment factories in Myanmar.
Alfonsi, Bandiera, Bassi, Burgess, Rasul, Sulaiman and Vitali (2020) design a labor market experiment to compare demand- and supply-side policies to tackle youth unemployment, a key issue in low-income countries.