Editing Openai/690e0c6e-a0a0-8008-a8d6-170f8b930892 (section)

=== - Position. Even without adopting Marx’s value theory, many modern economists argue real-world frictions and power can drive a wedge between pay and productivity—so “equal exchange” at the contract level can still mask extraction. Mechanisms include monopsony in labor markets, rising markups/market power, efficiency-wage discipline, and incomplete contracts. Annual Reviews<ref>{{cite web|title=Annual Reviews|url=https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-072823-030431|publisher=Annual Reviews|access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref> ===
* Evidence. - Monopsony: Higher labor-market concentration → lower posted wages. Reviews now treat monopsony as pervasive. NBER<ref>{{cite web|title=NBER|url=https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w24147/revisions/w24147.rev0.pdf|publisher=nber.org|access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref> - Rising markups / superstar firms: Markups climbed sharply since ~1980; reallocation toward “superstar” high-markup firms depressed the aggregate labor share. OUP Academic<ref>{{cite web|title=OUP Academic|url=https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/135/2/561/5714769|publisher=OUP Academic|access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref> - Labor share trends: Global decline in labor’s income share since the 1980s; debate on what the residual (“factorless income”) really is—pure profits vs. measurement. OUP Academic<ref>{{cite web|title=OUP Academic|url=https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/129/1/61/1899422|publisher=OUP Academic|access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref> - Profit share: Some work finds both labor and capital shares fell, offset by a rise in pure profits, consistent with distributional shifts favoring owners of market power. UCLA Anderson School of Management<ref>{{cite web|title=UCLA Anderson School of Management|url=https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/documents/areas/fac/finance/Barkai_Simcha_DecliningLaborCapital.pdf|publisher=UCLA Anderson School of Management|access-date=2025-11-12}}</ref>