This week’s finding: really-existing labor markets

This article has challenged the conventional wisdom on labor markets, advancing the following propositions: (1) There is no such thing as a labor market that is not socially and politically constructed. (2) All real-world labor markets reflect specific balances of power. (3) The balances of power reflect not only the abundance or scarcity of market (exit) opportunities but a wide range of political and social factors. (4) Therefore, laws and regulations to shift those balances do not constitute “interventions” into free markets. (5) Such laws and regulations are not necessarily inefficient or undesirable, and they do not require a particular justification based on market failures.

Steven K. Vogel (2025). “Toward an Interdisciplinary Political Economy of Wages.” Politics & Society: 1 -20 (accessed online at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323292251387041; my bold)