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In the standard labor market model taught in introductory economics classes around the world, relationships between firms and workers are just another transaction, mediated by the impersonal market forces of [...]

Abstract: One common metric of monopsony power is the quit elasticity, measuring how much more likely a worker is to quit a job in response to a wage change. Experimental and quasi-experimental variation in wages across workers within a given job results in quit elasticities in the 2-3 range, implying that a 10% reduction in wages increases the probability of quitting by 20-30%. In a model with monopsonistic employers, a quit elasticity of 2-3 also implies that workers are paid about 80-85% of the value they produce. These results indicate that employer power is pervasive. We present observational evidence that historically disadvantaged groups have systematically lower quit elasticities, indicating they face even greater employer power. Because monopsony power comes from an inability of workers to voluntarily switch jobs, the quit rate and especially the quit elasticity can be a useful metric for judging the health of the labor market. Pervasive employer power alters the analysis of labor market policy in a number of important ways.

Existing theories of democratic reversals emphasize that elites mount actions like coups when democracy is particularly threatening to their interests. However, existing theory has been largely silent on the role of elite social networks, which interact with economic incentives and may facilitate antidemocratic collective action. We develop a model where coups generate rents for elites and show that the effort an elite puts into a coup is increasing in their network centrality. We empirically explore the model using an original dataset of Haitian elite networks that we linked to firm-level data. We show that central families were more likely to be accused of participating in the 1991 coup against the democratic Aristide government. We then find that the retail prices of staple goods that are imported by such elites differentially increase during subsequent periods of nondemocracy. Our results suggest that elite social structure is an important factor in democratic reversals.

Herb Gintis, who left us in 2023, was a giant of left economics. He believed passionately in ideas and their power, especially in helping deliver a more just and desirable world. In a career spanning six decades, he asked the most profound questions about economics and its aims and possibilities, and inspired a generation of economists in turn. We here recount his work and our interactions with him. JEL Classification: A11, P00 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the impact of political coups and top-secret coup planning on asset prices. We use declassified CIA documents and daily stock price data to estimate the effect of private events on asset prices of partially nationalized US companies that stood to benefit from US backed coups. We find that stock markets react to actions classified as top-secret. Private events which raise the likelihood of a coup affect a continued rise in returns on affected assets. After incorporating the impact of private information events occurring before the coup, stock price reactions to coups are substantial.

This paper presents the first study of the economic effects of a citywide minimum wage— San Francisco’s adoption of a minimum wage, set at $8.50 in 2004 and $9.14 by 2007. Compared to earlier benchmark studies by Card and Krueger and by Neumark and Wascher, this study surveys table-service as well as fast-food restaurants, includes more control groups, and collects data for more outcomes. The authors find that the policy increased worker pay and compressed wage inequality, but did not create any detectable employment loss among affected restaurants. The authors also find smaller amounts of measurement error than characterized the earlier studies, and so they can reject previous negative employment estimates with greater confidence. Fast-food and table-service restaurants responded differently to the policy, with a small price increase and substantial increases in job tenure and in the proportion of full-time workers among fast-food restaurants, but not among table-service restaurants.

Homoeopathy is a system of medicine based on the law of similars 'let likes be cured by likes'. This means that any substance with the capacity for producing disease in its crude state has the capacity to treat a similar disease if taken in a very small dose. Homeopathic nosodes are homoeopathic remedies sourced from diseased materials and organisms. Homoeopathic nosodes may be used to treat and prevent infectious and non-infectious diseases. The incidence of infectious disease epidemics is now occurring more often around the world. This common public threat includes the emergence of antibiotic resistance which is an increasingly global issue. Contributing factors of this emergence are linked to underlying biological and environmental issues, lifestyle changes, and the misuse and overprescribing of antibiotics. Despite strengthening health infrastructure, every epidemic and multi-drug resistance bacterium poses a challenge to the government, policymakers, health professionals, and the whole population. This article will review data available on homoeopathic nosodes as well as present evidence that is available to support the use of homoeopathic nosodes in disease prevention and treatment. It also highlights several clinical trials and in vitro studies on the use of homoeopathy to target health issues that have the potential to harm public health and those that could possibly assist in reducing healthcare costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]