The assumption of equal power in labor market exchanges between employers and employees is false yet pervasive in economics, employment law, political science, and even philosophy. The damage caused by this assumption is far reaching. The faith in equal power be-tween employers and employees diminishes our freedoms, undermines our constitutional, statutory, and common law protections in the work-place, generates wage and income inequality and wage stagnation, and undercuts civic engagement and representative democracy. Fortunately, recent years have seen a shift -- generally partial and incomplete in academic and policy realms -- toward placing the imbalance of bargaining power in the workplace at the center of our understanding of labor markets.
