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In law, economics and the social sciences, inequality of bargaining power is where one party to a "bargain", contract or agreement, has more and better alternatives than the other party. This results in one party having greater "power" than the other to choose not to take the deal and makes it more likely that this party will gain more favourable terms. Inequality of bargaining power is where freedom of contract ceases to be real freedom, or where some have more freedom than others, and markets fail. Where bargaining power is persistently unequal, the concept of inequality of bargaining power serves as a justification for the implication of mandatory terms into contracts by law, or the non-enforcement of a contract by the courts. ==Historical development== The concept of inequality of bargaining power was long recognised, particularly with regard to workers. In the ''Wealth of Nations'' Adam Smith wrote, Beatrice Webb and Sidney Webb in their treatise ''Industrial Democracy'' significantly expanded on the critique of 19th century labour conditions and advocated a comprehensive system of labour law contained a chapter called, "The Higgling of the Market". They argued that the labour market was dominated by employers, and therefore had the same effect as monopsony. Workers generally are more under pressure to sell their labour than an employer is under to buy it. An employer can hold out longer, because typically he will have greater financial reserves. This means that much labour is supplied merely out of necessity, than free choice (shifting the supply curve to the right) and it is a false kind of competitive environment. The Webbs also pointed out that discrimination can decrease job opportunities for women or minorities, and that the legal institutions underpinning the market were skewed in favour of employers. Most importantly, they believed that a large pool of unemployed people was a constant downward drag on the ability of workers to bargain for better conditions. The Webbs felt that these factors all added up to systemic inequality of bargaining power between workers and employers. The first ever use of the phrase "inequality of bargaining power", however, appears to have been by the British philosopher, John Beattie Crozier in ''The Wheel of Wealth''.〔JB Crozier, ''The Wheel of Wealth; Being a Reconstruction of the Science and Art of Political Economy on the Lines'' (1906) Part III, ch 2, ‘On the tendency to inequality’, 377,〕 *Max Weber, ''The Theory of Social and Economic Organization'' (1915, translated 1947) 152, ‘Power is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will, despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests.’ *JR Commons, JR Andrews, American Bureau of Industrial Research, ''Principles of Labor Legislation'' (1916) 28, 30, 245 *JR Commons, ''History of Labour in the United States'' (1918) 34 *AC Pigou, ''The Economics of Welfare'' (1920) *Robert Dahl, ‘The Concept of Power’ (1957) 2(3) Behavioral Science 201, 202-203, power is when A ‘can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do’. *MJ Trebilcock, ‘An Economic Approach to the Doctrine of Unconscionability’ in BJ Reiter and J Swan (eds) Studies in Contract (1980)
*H Beale, ‘Inequality of bargaining power’ (1986) 6(1) OJLS 123, 127 "The point is obvious but worth making because it affects the conditions under which relief should be given: whereas advice as to value will normally save the contract with the ‘poor and ignorant person’, the master of the ship drifting onto the rocks would still have been open to exploitation even if he had had the entire House of Lords on board to advise him." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Inequality of bargaining power」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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