In an era of technological progress and easy communication, it might seem reasonable to assume that the world’s working people have never had it so good. But wages are stagnant and prices are rising, so that everything from a bottle of beer to a prosthetic hip costs more. Economist Jan Eeckhout shows how this is due to a small number of companies exploiting an unbridled rise in market power—the ability to set prices higher than they could in a properly functioning competitive marketplace. Drawing on his own groundbreaking research and telling the stories of common workers throughout, he demonstrates how market power has suffocated the world of work, and how, without better mechanisms to ensure competition, it could lead to disastrous market corrections and political turmoil. Jan Eeckhout is the ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and has taught at Upenn, University College London, Princeton and NYU. His work has been widely featured in the media, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and Financial Times A native Belgian, he has lived many years in the United States and Great Britain. He currently lives in Barcelona. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

(From Youtube)