Planet Money recently published a piece titled "The Labor Economics of Alien and Its Lessons for Inequality on Earth." It describes itself as a preview of a new book about monopsony in labor markets. It’s actually a detailed plot summary of the 1979 science fiction movie Alien, followed abruptly by the assertion that income inequality has "exploded", followed by the claim — stated rather than argued — that monopsony is the cause, followed by an admission that labor markets really aren’t monopsonies, followed by a plug for the book. The movie is distraction, offered in the hopes that readers will give up before the incoherent economics.
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