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Article
Structure, Behavior, and Market Power in an Evolutionary Labor Market with Adaptive Search
ISU Economic Report Series
  • Leigh Tesfatsion, Iowa State University
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
10-1-1999
Number
51
Abstract
This study uses an agent-based computational labor market framework to undertake a systematic experimental investigation of the relationship between job capacity, job concentration, and market power. Job capacity is measured by the ratio of total potential job openings to total potential work offers, and job concentration is measured by the ratio of work suppliers to employers. For each setting of the capacity and concentration treatment factors, work suppliers and employers repeatedly seek V- preferred worksite partners based on continually updated expected utility, engage in efficiency-wage worksite interactions mmodeledas prisoner's dilemma games, and evolve their worksite behaviors over time. The main finding is that job capacity consistently trumps job concentration when it comes to predicting the relative ability of work suppliers and employers to exercise market power. Controlling for job capacity, job concentration has only small unsystematic effects on attained market power levels.
Published As

This report has been published in Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Volume 25, Issues 3-4, March 2001, pp. 419-457

Citation Information
Leigh Tesfatsion. "Structure, Behavior, and Market Power in an Evolutionary Labor Market with Adaptive Search" (1999)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/leigh-tesfatsion/30/