Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #monopsony
Most recents (13)
Amazon is a perfect #enshittification parable - platforms subsidize end users until they're locked in, then make life good for business customers at users' expense, until *they're* locked in, then claw back all the value they can, leaving just enough to keep the lock-in going.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/06/14/fly…
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pluralistic.net/2023/06/14/fly…
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In a new report for @SOMO, @margaridasilva2 describes how the end-stage enshittification of Amazon is playing out in the #EU, with Amazon repeating its US playbook.
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Growing up in #Toronto, I held #NYC in awe. Per the joke, one Torontonian changes the lightbulb, the other goes New York to make sure lightbulbs are still in. I had a *great* place to stay in the City: my cousin Maxine's rent-controlled place in a midtown doorman building.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/04/21/bon…
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pluralistic.net/2023/04/21/bon…
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Max was impossibly glamorous: a perfectly coiffed office manager at Colgate-Palmolive who earned an anthropology degree at CUNY, volunteered at the Brooklyn Zoo, and knew every trick for getting cheap tickets for museums, galleries and shows.
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Mobile tech is a duopoly run by two companies - Google and Apple - with a combined $3.5T market cap. Each uses a combination of tech, law, contract and market power to force sellers to do commerce via apps, and each extracts a *massive* commission in-app sales - 15-30%! 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2022/12/13/kit… 2/
pluralistic.net/2022/12/13/kit… 2/
This is bad for users and workers. Many companies' gross margins are less than 30%. In some categories, that means there's *no* competition. 3/
In Bezos's original plan, the company called "Amazon" was called "Relentless," due to its ambition to be "Earth's most customer-centric company." Today, Amazon is an enshittified endless scroll of paid results, where winning depends on ad budgets, not quality. 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/ens… 2/
pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/ens… 2/
Writing in Jeff Bezos's newspaper the @WashingtonPost, veteran tech reporter @geoffreyfowler reports on the state of his boss's "relentless" commitment to customer service. The state is grim.
washingtonpost.com/technology/int… 3/
washingtonpost.com/technology/int… 3/
When Amazon bought Twitch, the story was that the new conglomerate would be more efficient and that would benefit everyone - streamers *and* audiences. That's the story we hear about every anticompetitive merger, and it's always a lie. 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2022/09/22/ama… 2/
pluralistic.net/2022/09/22/ama… 2/
One major efficiency that the Amazon-Twitch merger was supposed to produce? Lower bandwidth costs. That's one of the largest expenses associated with running a streaming service, after all, and Amazon Web Services is the 800lb gorilla of cloud computing. 3/
Kicking off the 3rd @CReAM_Research & @RWI_Leibniz_en Workshop on the Economics of Migration, organized by @j_bredtmann and @s_otten21, that is taking place today and tomorrow in Essen 🇩🇪!
Here is a 🧵 with all presentations:
#CReAM_RWI_22 #econtwitter
Here is a 🧵 with all presentations:
#CReAM_RWI_22 #econtwitter
Can #immigration strengthen the monopsony power of firms? Yes, if immigrants have low reservation wages. We are thrilled to begin #Cream_RWI_22 with Jan Stuhler's @EconomicsUc3m talk on 1990s #immigration shocks in🇩🇪 and #monopsony relying on admin data #Cream_RWI_22 #econtwitter
@CVar_Sil is discussing the results of an experiment to assess Colombian's policy preferences to the inflow of 🇻🇪#migrants. They find that natives that view the crisis as an economic issue are more likely to support health access restrictive policies #Cream_RWI_22 #econtwitter
At @athenaforall we often talk about how Amazon's sellers, customers, workers and neighbors have so much in common. This is why: “I don’t think they care about the third party seller . . . . They treat us as a commodity.” -3rd party seller. #MonopolyIsNoGame
I wonder how this is related to workers' stories about their inability to talk to am human about sick leave during a pandemic? "Internal Amazon documents suggest that the company’s hyper-focus on a cost-cutting strategy to adopt automated processes for nearly everything
—which Amazon refers to as “HOTW”or “Hands off the wheel”1684—combined with the platform’s monopoly power over sellers may be to blame for Amazon’s atrocious levels of customer service for sellers" #MonopolyIsNoGame
#FarmBills will soon be legislations,nothwithstanding antics in #rajyashabha,by likes of
#DerekOBrien& #SanjaySingh
@narendramodi,famously said, "Mind is never a problem;Mindset is"!
My #Oped in @DailyGuardian1 dissects,historic FarmBills, threadbare👇
thedailyguardian.com/modi-govts-far…
#DerekOBrien& #SanjaySingh
@narendramodi,famously said, "Mind is never a problem;Mindset is"!
My #Oped in @DailyGuardian1 dissects,historic FarmBills, threadbare👇
thedailyguardian.com/modi-govts-far…
My Oped in #TheDailyGuardian which discusses each of the 3 #FarmBills in great detail,tells you why the Bills by @narendramodi govt will not only end #Monopoly by #Arhatiyas,but will also end the #Monopsony of APMC Mandis-Yes, you heard it right--Monopsony is worse,than Monopoly
#AgriReforms by @narendramodi👇
Onboarding 1000 #eNAMs
Setting up #FPOs to improve farmers' bargaining power
1 lakh Cr #AgriFund for investment in Post Harvest Infra
#InterestSubvention of 2%
Issuance of 6.7Cr+ #KCCs&Rs 6000 to over 14Cr farmers,via #PMKisan
#FarmBill2020
Onboarding 1000 #eNAMs
Setting up #FPOs to improve farmers' bargaining power
1 lakh Cr #AgriFund for investment in Post Harvest Infra
#InterestSubvention of 2%
Issuance of 6.7Cr+ #KCCs&Rs 6000 to over 14Cr farmers,via #PMKisan
#FarmBill2020
Today the House votes on Protecting the Right to Organize Act #PROAct, the first major legislation aimed at expanding the ability of unions to organize workers in 10 years. @coreyhusak and I look a the research for this new @equitablegrowth fact sheet 1/9 equitablegrowth.org/factsheet-the-…
Unions are a counterweight to the forces that cause economic inequality. Research by Farber, @djh1202, @ikuziemko and @snaidunl uses new historical data to show a nearly-perfect inverse relationship between union density and income inequality. 2/9 nber.org/papers/w24587
In particular, #monopsony gives employers the power to exploit their workers. Research by @MarkVinPaul and Stelzner shows how government institutional support for collective action is critical for the ability of unions to address economic inequality. 3/9 equitablegrowth.org/working-papers…
This morning, I’m testifying before @housebudgetdems about how economic inequality is harming our economy—and what policymakers can do to fix it equitablegrowth.org/testimony-by-h…
GDP growth has been treated for decades by pundits and policymakers alike as synonymous with prosperity.
But where overall growth of the economic pie was once broadly representative of the lived experiences of most Americans, that is no longer true.
But where overall growth of the economic pie was once broadly representative of the lived experiences of most Americans, that is no longer true.
The distribution of wealth across U.S. households is now even more unequal than income:
The top 1% now controls 42% of all wealth and the top 0.1% controls more than 22% of all wealth in the U.S. economy--3x as much as a generation ago.
The top 1% now controls 42% of all wealth and the top 0.1% controls more than 22% of all wealth in the U.S. economy--3x as much as a generation ago.
THE MIDDLE MAN VALUE CHAIN: THE BRITISH AND CHINESE CASE IN IGBOLAND
The 1901 Aro Expedition of 1901 was a violent ousting of the Aro merchants(middle men) who ran a cartel of slaves in the Niger area
The British grew from staying around the shores to desiring to enter the..
The 1901 Aro Expedition of 1901 was a violent ousting of the Aro merchants(middle men) who ran a cartel of slaves in the Niger area
The British grew from staying around the shores to desiring to enter the..
hinterlands.
They had found a cure for malaria and wanted to eliminate the middle man (Aro merchants mostly) who were the feeder bloc of slaves and other wares.
The Aro merchants refused and it led to a violent attack against them-In fact, 'cos the Aro were popular, they...
They had found a cure for malaria and wanted to eliminate the middle man (Aro merchants mostly) who were the feeder bloc of slaves and other wares.
The Aro merchants refused and it led to a violent attack against them-In fact, 'cos the Aro were popular, they...
Thought they had a military. The Brita attacked with full notary hardware.
The middle men were eliminated and it established a kind of #Monopsony where the Brits dictated the price. For the people's wares, they gave money that had value, because now, they were forced to sell.
The middle men were eliminated and it established a kind of #Monopsony where the Brits dictated the price. For the people's wares, they gave money that had value, because now, they were forced to sell.
With Labor Day this weekend, there is a growing call for more union power to balance wealthy corporate power. In the midst of all the campaign platforms and worker actions, I looked into the role of strikes in my latest for @equitablegrowth: equitablegrowth.org/the-once-and-f… 1/12
Research by @awh finds that support for unions has increased and workers specifically want collective bargaining and benefits like healthcare from unions. Workers tend to not like strikes, but support increases when paired with collective bargaining. 2/12
"What Unions No Longer Do" by @JakeRosenfeld1 shows that strikes peaked in the 80s and declined since then. Anti-union business tactics and Taft-Hartley limitations on striking caught up with the labor movement, rendering strikes less successful than they once were. 3/12
THREAD on #monopsony and #antitrust implications
1. Intellectual foundations back to work of Joan Robinson (1933) – eminent woman economist btw, too often neglected. She became full professor only in 1965 – 6 years before retiring
1. Intellectual foundations back to work of Joan Robinson (1933) – eminent woman economist btw, too often neglected. She became full professor only in 1965 – 6 years before retiring
2. Here’s the theory :
-In a competitive labour market, each worker receives her/his marginal product
-Labour supply is upward sloping: need to pay more to attract more workers
-If a single firm buys inputs, will try to BUY LESS in order to drive WAGES DOWN
-In a competitive labour market, each worker receives her/his marginal product
-Labour supply is upward sloping: need to pay more to attract more workers
-If a single firm buys inputs, will try to BUY LESS in order to drive WAGES DOWN
3. More and more evidence I cannot review here, coming from terrific work of @joseazar @mioana @Econ_Marshall @glenweyl @Alan_Krueger @arindube et al. Most comes from US data, but also Europe e.g. Silvana Tenreyro et al.
