Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Schmitt, Maximilian L.
Author-workplace-name: RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, Microeconomics & Public Economics
Author-Name: Rusch, Hannes
Author-workplace-name: Microeconomics & Public Economics, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research
Title: Exploitation Cycles: Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics in Labor Markets with Predatory Employers
Abstract: Exploitative employers damage the very labor force on which they depend. Accordingly, this paper models exploitation and labor-force quality as a coupled dynamical system: exploiters spread when high-quality labor makes extraction profitable, but their success degrades the labor environment that sustains those profits. We show that this coupling generates persistent cycles rather than convergence toastable level of exploitation. Our policy extension shows that responsive enforcement can dampen these cycles, induce convergence, and improve welfare. We contribute by elucidating exploitation dynamics and demonstrating how eco-evolutionary methods can be applied to study labor markets on which employers compete with exploiters.
Keywords: exploitation, labor-force quality, persistent cycles
Classification-JEL: c73,j21,j47
Series: GSBE Research Memoranda
Creation-Date: 20261013
Number: 011
File-URL: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/files/324766824/RM26011.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 597944
Handle: Repec:unm:umagsb:2026011
DOI: 10.26481/umagsb.2026011