New York Times: The Villain Behind a New Gilded Age

Consolidated power among corporations, more so than the forces of globalization or technology, has reinforced inequality, fueled populism and reduced support for democracy. “In the past two decades, growth rates in the United States have fallen to half of what they were in the middle of the 20th century,” note authors Eric Posner and Glen Weyl for the New York Times. “The share of income accruing to the top 1 percent has nearly doubled since the 1970s, while the share of income going to all workers has fallen by nearly 10 percent.” Posner and Weyl identify trends that increase concentration and disadvantage workers: institutional investors owning large stakes in major firms and industries; reduced job openings for available labor, forcing workers to accept reduced wages or change careers; and specifically monopolies among technology firms that control new services and user data. The authors propose regulations that encourage restructuring, blocking consolidation of market power over labor and giving consumers choices. – YaleGlobal

New York Times: The Villain Behind a New Gilded Age

Corporate monopolies are emerging once again– reinforcing inequality, taking advantage of labor, giving consumers few choices, and fueling dangerous populism
Eric Posner and Glen Weyl
Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Read the opinion essay from the New York Times about the threat of monopolies to economic growth and labor security.

Eric Posner, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and Glen Weyl, a visiting scholar in economics and law at Yale and a researcher at Microsoft (for which he does not speak), are the authors of the forthcoming Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society.

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