From Monopoly to Monopsony Capitalism

Area of Science:

• Economics
• Labor Studies
• Sociology

Background:

• Contemporary capitalism analysis often overlooks buyer power.
• Traditional supply-demand models inadequately explain labor markets.
• Global value chains are central to modern economic structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize contemporary capitalism as global monopsony capitalism.
• To integrate buyer power into economic analysis of labor and input markets.
• To examine the gendered nature of monopsony power.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of buyer power within global value chains.
• Distinguishing and outlining labor conditions across high, medium, and low monopsony power levels.
• Investigating the gendered dimensions of monopsony power.

Main Results:

• Contemporary capitalism exhibits significant buyer power, termed global monopsony capitalism.
• Global value chains demonstrate varying degrees of monopsony power.
• Labor conditions are significantly shaped by the level of monopsony power and are gendered.

Conclusions:

• Global monopsony capitalism presents unique challenges for labor.
• Understanding monopsony power is crucial for analyzing global value chains.
• Forming countervailing power against global monopsony capitalism is a complex task.