Market Power and Wage Inequality

Last registered on April 29, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Market Power and Wage Inequality
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018493
Initial registration date
April 26, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
April 29, 2026, 3:50 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Wilbur Townsend
Affiliation
UC Berkeley
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Savannah Noray
PI Affiliation
Harvard University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-04-27
End date
2026-08-01
Keywords
Firms & Productivity, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
wage inequality
JEL code(s)
J16; J42
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We survey workers to understand their outside job options and so infer their employers' market power. We then use these answers to estimate a structural model of the labor market.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Noray, Savannah and Wilbur Townsend. 2026. "Market Power and Wage Inequality." AEA RCT Registry. April 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18493-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-04-27
Intervention End Date
2026-08-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
There are two outcomes. The first is the respondent’s choice to stay or leave a lower-paying version of their current job. The second is the respondent’s indication that their employer would be willing to give them a pay raise of a certain amount. (See “Experimental Design” for more details)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We plan to use the online survey to collect information on worker rents and rent sharing.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is done by the survey software, Qualtrics.
Randomization Unit
Randomization is at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
Our target sample size is 2000 respondents. However we may sample fewer than 2000 respondents if the Prolific platform provides fewer respondents that meet our criteria.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
For both the question on worker rents and the question on rent sharing, each of the 9 cutoffs will be drawn with equal probability.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Harvard University
IRB Approval Date
2026-04-24
IRB Approval Number
IRB25-0725
Analysis Plan

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