Monopsony power, employer size, and gender: An analysis of servants’ nominal wages in Southern Sweden: 1500-1800
(2024) EKHS21 20241Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- Historians have often noted the existence of frictions in early labour markets. Swedish servants, for example, experienced large mobility restrictions and coercion, preventing them from switching employers. Despite this, wage studies have often relied on assumptions of perfect competition, ignoring these findings. This study uses more than 3,000 observations of servant wages for Southern Sweden, covering more than three centuries, to explore the extent to which the servant labour market was competitive. Furthermore, the analysis examines the degree of monopsonistic power that different employers could exercise by comparing large employers from rural and urban areas, as well as small employers from the city of Malmö, comparing them by their... (More)
- Historians have often noted the existence of frictions in early labour markets. Swedish servants, for example, experienced large mobility restrictions and coercion, preventing them from switching employers. Despite this, wage studies have often relied on assumptions of perfect competition, ignoring these findings. This study uses more than 3,000 observations of servant wages for Southern Sweden, covering more than three centuries, to explore the extent to which the servant labour market was competitive. Furthermore, the analysis examines the degree of monopsonistic power that different employers could exercise by comparing large employers from rural and urban areas, as well as small employers from the city of Malmö, comparing them by their status and wealth. Findings suggest a large degree of wage-setting behaviour over time in both rural and urban areas, where nominal wages often could remain unchanged for decades. Furthermore, the bunching of wages around integers and even numbers suggests that employers could mis-optimise without consequences, indicating the presence of monopsonistic power. Female servants seem to have been particularly affected by the wage-setting behaviour of their employers. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9164513
- author
- Cobos Cabral, Francisco LU
- supervisor
-
- Kathryn Gary LU
- organization
- course
- EKHS21 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Monopsony Employer size Gender Servants Nominal wages Sweden
- language
- English
- id
- 9164513
- date added to LUP
- 2024-07-03 07:08:43
- date last changed
- 2024-07-03 07:08:43
@misc{9164513, abstract = {{Historians have often noted the existence of frictions in early labour markets. Swedish servants, for example, experienced large mobility restrictions and coercion, preventing them from switching employers. Despite this, wage studies have often relied on assumptions of perfect competition, ignoring these findings. This study uses more than 3,000 observations of servant wages for Southern Sweden, covering more than three centuries, to explore the extent to which the servant labour market was competitive. Furthermore, the analysis examines the degree of monopsonistic power that different employers could exercise by comparing large employers from rural and urban areas, as well as small employers from the city of Malmö, comparing them by their status and wealth. Findings suggest a large degree of wage-setting behaviour over time in both rural and urban areas, where nominal wages often could remain unchanged for decades. Furthermore, the bunching of wages around integers and even numbers suggests that employers could mis-optimise without consequences, indicating the presence of monopsonistic power. Female servants seem to have been particularly affected by the wage-setting behaviour of their employers.}}, author = {{Cobos Cabral, Francisco}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Monopsony power, employer size, and gender: An analysis of servants’ nominal wages in Southern Sweden: 1500-1800}}, year = {{2024}}, }