Monopsony Power in the Market for Nurses

Estimates are presented of the inverse elasticity of supply of nursing services to the individual hospital, a quantity which is a natural measure of employer market power. The estimates corresponding to employment changes taking place over one year are quite high (in the neighborhood of 0.79) and even for changes taking place over three years are substantial (in the neighborhood of 0.26). The estimates do not significantly differ for hospitals in major metropolitan areas and do not depend very sensitively on the assumed form of the oligopsony equilibrium.