Quote · Planet Money
The real horror of ‘Alien’ and how it explains why we’re not paid enough
Where this was said
The Contract Clause Scene: Shrouded Attributes
At 12:27 · chapter starts 10:15
This chapter is the intellectual heart of the episode. The hosts play the scene from Alien where crew member Parker argues that investigating an alien signal is not in his contract — only to be told by the android Ash that there is a hidden clause requiring exactly this, on penalty of forfeiting all pay. Dube calls this a 'shrouded attribute': a risky or onerous contract obligation that a worker didn't fully price in when signing. In a competitive market, he explains, companies must be transparent about such risks or workers will simply go elsewhere. But when employer power is high, you can bury the clause and workers are stuck with it. The hosts marvel that the inciting incident of a 47-year-old horror film is essentially a graduate-level labor economics case study. [1] — Arin Dube "The reason the Alien crew is forced onto a suicide mission is a hidden contract clause — what economists call a 'shrouded attribute.' In a …" 11:08
The reason the Alien crew is forced onto a suicide mission is a hidden contract clause — what economists call a 'shrouded attribute.' In a truly competitive labor market, risky hidden obligations would be priced into workers' pay. Weyland-Yutani doesn't bother, because it doesn't have to.
Arin Dube explains that in uncompetitive labor markets, employers can hide risky contract clauses — 'shrouded attributes' — that workers don't fully price in, because workers have no real alternative employment options.
When asked whether monopsony or the xenomorph is scarier, labor economist Arin Dube doesn't hesitate: monopsony wins. It's a punchline, but it's also a thesis — monopsony's grip on real labor markets is a bigger everyday threat than any sci-fi monster.
