The real horror of ‘Alien’ and how it explains why we’re not paid enough

Summary

Planet Money – "The Real Horror of ‘Alien’ and How It Explains Why We’re Not Paid Enough"

Air Date: June 19, 2026
Hosts: Kenny Malone & Greg Rosalski
Featured Guest: Aaron Dube (Labor Economist, UMass Amherst)
Special Guest: Fede Alvarez (Director, Alien: Romulus)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Planet Money dives into the classic sci-fi horror film Alien, proposing that beneath the xenomorphs and spaceship drama lies a prescient—and terrifying—lesson about the labor market, worker pay, and economic power. By watching Alien through the lens of labor economist Aaron Dube and with commentary from Fede Alvarez (director of Alien: Romulus), the show unpacks why the real monster isn’t just the alien, but the economic system that underpins the crew’s lives. The discussion draws a provocative parallel between the fictional Weyland Yutani Corporation’s labor dynamics and real-world phenomena like monopsony power, contract shenanigans, and the erosion of worker protections.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Alien’s Dystopian Labor Market: An Econ Parable (00:35–07:16)

• Alien is introduced as more than a sci-fi horror classic; it’s a case study in worker exploitation and labor economics.
• Weyland Yutani is a massive mega-corporation controlling virtually everything—akin to company towns and real-life monopsonies.
• The setup: blue-collar “space truckers” doing dangerous mining haul jobs, living entirely at the mercy of their employer.

Quote:

“What Greg and I will propose today is that [Weyland Yutani] is in fact the perfect vehicle to look at how we’re living our lives today as workers and laborers in the modern economy.” — Kenny Malone (01:22)

2. Labor Economics in Outer Space – Negative Amenities & Contracts (07:16–12:39)

• Labor economist Aaron Dube identifies key econ themes in Alien:
  • Bad Jobs: Dangerous, isolating work with “serious negative amenities” (08:15)
  • Compensating Differential: In theory, riskier jobs should pay more to offset the hazards, but that only happens if markets work well (08:52)
  • Shrouded Attributes in Contracts: Hidden or unclear job risks/clauses that disadvantage workers

Quote:

“There’s some serious negative amenities, as we say… risk of death is probably like a pretty big one.” — Aaron Dube (08:15)

3. The Contract Scene – Exploitation in Plain Sight (09:11–12:39)

• Iconic Alien scene: Crew is told to investigate a mysterious signal or risk forfeiting pay – a clause buried in their contract
• Dube explains why in a competitive market, risky or extra work would be compensated, but shrouded contract clauses let companies avoid paying for new hazards.
• When workers discover these “attributes,” they’re stuck—“kind of screwed” (12:31).

Quote:

“It’s this little clause about a wildly risky job responsibility that Weyland Yutani did not need to price into its worker pay. Because they could just bury it in the contract.” — Kenny Malone (12:39)

4. Monopsony: The Sneakier Monster (13:09–16:39)

• The real economic terror: monopsony—when workers have only one (or few) employers to choose from.
• Not just sci-fi: company towns, mining towns, and even modern industries often exhibit monopsonistic dynamics.

Quote:

“You know, like xenomorphs are not great, but monopsony…” — Aaron Dube (13:29)

• Dube highlights that monopsony is far more common than previously believed. It doesn’t take owning the entire economy—localized, concentrated industries have the same effect.

5. Hidden Monopsony in the Modern Labor Market (16:13–19:35)

• Why can’t workers just leave bad jobs?
  • Even in big cities, most people have few truly equal job options (“three within driving distance” in most cases—17:46)
  • Search frictions: Obstacles to finding and switching jobs, from effort to lack of information to personal preference
  • Monopsony by Artifice: Employers use non-competes and other devices (e.g., at sandwich shops or summer camps) to limit worker mobility

Quote:

“A third or more of American Workers end up signing [non-competes]… it’s basically a way to reduce competition for workers.” — Aaron Dube (19:02)

6. Solutions & What Could Have Saved the Crew (20:06–21:19)

• The erosion of counter-forces like minimum wage, antitrust, and unions has empowered monopsony and led to stagnating worker pay.
• Imagining a sectoral union for space truckers—the “Sectoral Space Truckers Association” (SSTA)—the show humorously outlines how union power would have completely changed Alien’s plot (24:28), preventing the deadly mission.

Quote:

“Remember our grievance procedure? So I’m going to file that. And while it’s being investigated, we actually can’t go. That’s part of the rule.” — Aaron Dube, imagining the unionized version of Alien (24:28)

7. Filmmaker Fede Alvarez on Alien’s Labor Themes (25:23–33:12)

• Fede Alvarez, director of Alien: Romulus, confirms that labor and class power are deliberately foregrounded in his new film and in the DNA of the franchise.
• He describes starting his movie on a company-controlled mining colony, where characters are trapped by escalating “quotal” requirements, echoing textbook monopsony and company scrip systems.
• Alvarez speaks on his own Uruguay-to-U.S. experience—a direct window into what’s lost when worker protections and benefits disappear.

Memorable Exchange:

"The company pays us for food and shelter and takes our lives in exchange." — Character in Alien: Romulus (28:22)
“This is a depiction of monopsony that could be taught in economics classes…” — Greg Rosalski (29:35)

Quote:

"It's not a good Alien movie if you don't deal with [labor economics]." — Fede Alvarez (32:44)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Shrouded Contract Clauses:

  “The technical term is you’re kind of screwed.” — Aaron Dube (12:31)

• On Real-world Monopsony:

  “Aspects of exactly what doesn’t work in a very dramatic way in Alien does afflict us in smaller but important ways.” — Aaron Dube (19:35)

• On International Labor Rights:

  “I was like, what is this dystopian society?... Uruguay, we have health care. It’s free health care... I took for granted all my life living there. And then when I came here... So for me, that also made me understand why in Alien, it was important, if I was gonna make one, to really bring some of the subjects to the forefront.” — Fede Alvarez (31:41–32:23)

• Joking on the Economics of Alien:

  "I'm going to file that [grievance]. And while it's being investigated, we actually can't go. That's part of the rule. So the end." — Aaron Dube (24:28)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:35 – Setup: Weyland Yutani earnings call; Introducing Alien as a labor econ lesson
• 05:20 – Aaron Dube joins; recounts watching Alien as a youth
• 07:16 – Discussing “bad jobs” and negative amenities
• 09:11 – The contract scene and shrouded risk
• 13:09 – Revealing “monopsony” as the true threat
• 16:13 – How real-world monopsony works today
• 19:02 – Non-competes and “monopsony by artifice”
• 21:19 – Imagining unionized space truckers
• 25:23 – Director Fede Alvarez on labor as the heart of Alien
• 28:22 – Alien: Romulus character confronts company power
• 31:41 – Alvarez on experiences with Uruguay vs. U.S. labor conditions
• 32:44 – Promise: future Alien movies will lean into labor themes

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Takeaways

• Alien is a brilliant, often-overlooked explainer on the dangers of weak labor markets, hidden job attributes, and monopsony power.
• The real horror is not just the monster, but the ways workers can be systematically trapped by contract, lack of alternatives, and subtle employer power—issues just as real in the 21st century as in sci-fi futures.
• Solutions exist: strengthening unions, minimum wage, and antitrust laws can rebalance the scales in workers’ favor.
• Even the makers of Alien see labor powerlessness as the franchise’s soul—one that resonates just as much in today’s economy.

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For listeners who want to go deeper: The episode is inspired by Aaron Dube’s book, The Wage Standard. Host Greg Rosalski's related newsletters on monopsony, Alien, and Dube are linked in the show notes.

Transcript

[Avalara Announcer]

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[Kenny Malone]

You are about to hear some deeply troubling allegations. Allegations about a company that we should say does not provide financial support for npr. Here's our episode.

[Planet Money Intro Announcer]

This is Planet Money from npr.

[Kenny Malone]

We begin today with, I think, truly one of the most chilling earnings calls I have ever heard. Really disturbing and people should know. Earnings calls generally, they're very welcome to Q3.

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah, profitability costs, stuff like that.

[Kenny Malone]

But in this call, they throw to the CEO, and it is very different here. You want to hear it?

[Alien Movie Narrator]

Bringing us to the earnings report on our deep space initiatives. Every corporation has a space fleet.

[Greg Rosalski]

Space fleet. Of course. Every corporation has a space fleet.

[Kenny Malone]

You know, space fleet is a weird way to put the pivot to space, I suppose, but like, you know, I kind of follow.

[Alien Movie Narrator]

But because we were there first, our profits have grown exponentially in less than a decade.

[Kenny Malone]

I'm not a CEO, coach, but like,

[Greg Rosalski]

I'd sound less cartoonishly evil, maybe like a super villain.

[Alien Movie Narrator]

This year, the first of our research vessels are scheduled to return, and with it, they'll bring back something that will keep our profits well ahead of everyone.

[Greg Rosalski]

Sounds like maybe a good investment. I'm not sure.

[Kenny Malone]

Are you bi. Come by the Weyland Yutani Company, Greg?

[Greg Rosalski]

I think so.

[Kenny Malone]

Weyland Yutani is a fictional company from the film franchise Alien. Alien And Greg, in case people don't know the thing they have found in outer space that will bring great profitability.

[Greg Rosalski]

Could it be a killer alien?

[Kenny Malone]

Yes. Double mouthed, acid blooded xenomorph. You want to make a xenomorph sound? Can you do xenomorph? Excellent. Excellent. All right. So we've been talking about a fake company this whole time. The Weyland Yutani Corporation runs through the Alien franchise. And it is certainly a caricature of a futuristic conglomerate. But what Greg and I will propose today is that it is in fact, the perfect vehicle to look at how we are living our lives today as workers and laborers in the modern economy.

[Greg Rosalski]

Dun dun, dun.

[Kenny Malone]

Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Kenny Malone.

[Greg Rosalski]

And I'm Greg Rosalski. The movie alien is set 96 years in a future where a single gargantuan company controls basically everything and employs seemingly everyone.

[Kenny Malone]

This proves to be bad for workers because they have no other options, of course. But then Even worse for workers when they are forced to onboard their company's newest team member profit center, which then, you know, basically eats all of them except for one.

[Greg Rosalski]

It's pretty scary sci fi stuff. But you know what's scarier, Kenny?

[Kenny Malone]

What's that?

[Greg Rosalski]

Greg Rosalski More and more research suggests our our Psi Non Phi world has a lot more in common with the labor dynamics of Alien than you might think.

[Kenny Malone]

It's true. And look, we at Planet Money see economics in everything. But on this one with Alien, we are not alone. Today on the show, you don't need a textbook to learn labor economics. You just need some clips from Alien and one of our leading labor economists to watch them with us.

[Avalara Announcer]

Support for NPR comes from IBM. On Smart Talks with IBM, host Malcolm Gladwell speaks with leaders who are pushing the boundaries of AI and technology in partnership with IBM.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Hello.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Hello, I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of Smart Talks with IBM. I sat down with Alon Cohen, who leads research and development at UFC to discuss the complexity of using technology to analyze fight data.

[UFC Fighter/Expert]

With kick to the head, it makes contact with the outside of my arm,

[Kenny Malone]

which I brought up.

[UFC Fighter/Expert]

In our world, that's a blocked strike. Yeah, but teaching a computer what exactly that means and when and how, like when my arm is up, that's a block. When my arm is down and hits my shoulder, that's not. It's those nuances that proved incredibly difficult for machines to be able to handle for a very, very long time.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

That is until IBM entered the octagon.

[Avalara Announcer]

Listen to Smart Talks with IBM wherever you get your podcasts.

[Greg Rosalski]

Okay, so today we are going to spoil some parts of the 47 year old movie Alien. If you haven't seen it, come on people.

[Kenny Malone]

We will also be spoiling some parts of the brand new book the Wage Standard. Subtitle what's Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix it by economist Aaron Dubay. And if you haven't read that also, come on, what's wrong with you people?

[Greg Rosalski]

Spoilers all around. So we emailed Aaron to say, you know what, we love your book, but you know what would be cool? If we mostly interviewed about the movie Alien.

[Kenny Malone]

It's true. And then Aaron wrote back to us and said basically, heck yeah, pretty sure

[Aaron Dube]

I watched the Alien for the first time when I was in middle school.

[Kenny Malone]

That's very young.

[Aaron Dube]

Yeah, it was very edgy.

[Kenny Malone]

It's R rated. Aaron.

[Greg Rosalski]

Aaron is one of the most prominent labor economists working right now. He's at UMass Amherst and he's probably best known for his research on the minimum wage.

[Kenny Malone]

Aaron's been contributing to this growing body of work that shows higher minimum wages do not kill jobs the way economists used to think.

[Greg Rosalski]

But you could read all about that in Aaron's book.

[Kenny Malone]

Yeah, yeah.

[Greg Rosalski]

Back to Alien.

[Kenny Malone]

Let's get back to Alien. Yes. Do you remember feeling like they were worker rights issues at play?

[Aaron Dube]

That the first thing I thought of, I was like, oh my gosh. Told my friends. No, I think I was just like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm watching this.

[UFC Fighter/Expert]

Yeah.

[Greg Rosalski]

If it just so happened that this is why you got into labor economics, that would have been a wonderful answer.

[Aaron Dube]

But it's okay, you know, we can go with that because who knows?

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah, who knows? Because there is genuinely a surprising amount of labor economics baked into the very core of this movie.

[Kenny Malone]

So if you haven't seen it, allow us to briefly explain the setup. The basic setup of the film Alien.

[Greg Rosalski]

Twentieth Century Fox presents exterior shots, spaceship

[Kenny Malone]

from a company called the Weyland Yutani Corporation.

[Greg Rosalski]

This is a space truck. Essentially, it's hauling a bunch of ore from a mining planet back to earth.

[Kenny Malone]

But interior shot, computer screen.

[Greg Rosalski]

The space truck's computer picks up a mysterious signal, then wakes the entire crew from cryo sleep.

[Kenny Malone]

Cold cornbread. Now this crew, they're rough, they're tumble, they're blue collar space truckers. They wear tattered clothes and headbands. They work for Weyland Yutani and clearly would rather still be a cryosleep.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Hey,

[Greg Rosalski]

so yeah, that's the basic setup.

[Aaron Dube]

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

[Kenny Malone]

What about that setup? Gets your labor economist senses tingling.

[Aaron Dube]

So first of all, these are not great jobs.

[Kenny Malone]

These are tough jobs.

[Aaron Dube]

Yeah, there's some serious negative amenities, as we say.

[Kenny Malone]

Is that the term?

[Greg Rosalski]

That's the term, yeah, that's the term. When you watch Alien with Aaron Dube, it's like the nerdiest DVD commentary ever. He spots all of these hugely important real world ideas from labor economics.

[Kenny Malone]

And so we are going to watch Alien with Aaron Dube and learn about our world from his commentary.

[Greg Rosalski]

So negative amenities, those are things that make a job less desirable. An emergency room job, it may require overnight shifts. A construction job, it may come with the risk of injury.

[Kenny Malone]

A space trucker job on a beat up old mining ship. Yeah. Aaron immediately sees some likely negative amenities here.

[Aaron Dube]

You know, there's a few, but risk of death is probably like a pretty big one.

[Kenny Malone]

Yes, I think that's. I think that's fair.

[Aaron Dube]

Could be fun though, if life threatening, but definitely not Good.

[Greg Rosalski]

I mean, they have to go into cryogenic sleep for many years. So, you know, they're away from home for a long time.

[Kenny Malone]

So. Negative. Away from home for a long time. Positive. Get to sleep on the job for a lot of the job.

[Aaron Dube]

Yeah.

[Kenny Malone]

A job with lots of negative amenities is what Aaron calls a bad job. Like that's a real term. And being a space trucker for the company Weyland Yutani. Bad job, high risk.

[Aaron Dube]

When you have a job where there's a big risk, you get something that's called compensating differential, meaning you get paid more because to compensate for the risk. Now, that's if the labor market's working pretty well.

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah. Aaron has some questions about how well the labor market is functioning in the year 2122.

[Kenny Malone]

You don't have to watch for very long to see the problems. Basically, the first scene of the movie Alien is all about work and pay and contracts. And we cue that scene up to watch with Aaron. All right, everyone ready?

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Yeah.

[Aaron Dube]

Okay, sounds good.

[Kenny Malone]

Here we go.

[Greg Rosalski]

Okay, so in the scene, the crew, they gather around this table. Their captain tells them about this mysterious transmission. And they've been woken up because their company, Weyland Yutani, it needs them to go investigate that transmission.

[Kenny Malone]

A transmission out here?

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Yeah. S.O.S. i don't know.

[Planet Money Intro Announcer]

Human?

[Alien Crew Member]

Unknown. I hate to bring this up, but this is a commercial ship, not a rescue ship.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Right.

[Alien Crew Member]

It's not my contract to do this kind of duty. If you want to give me some money.

[Kenny Malone]

Yeah, let me pause there. Not in the contract. What's your reaction to that line?

[Aaron Dube]

Well, you know, it's not in the contract. So if they are told they have to do something, it's not their contract. They should just quit and get another job.

[Kenny Malone]

You're being facetious because they're on a spaceship.

[Aaron Dube]

Oh, no. How is that going to work?

[Kenny Malone]

Yes. Here is a giant clue that the true monster of Alien may be hiding in the labor dynamics. Greg. Yes.

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah, I mean, okay, so our crew, they live on a company ship. They sleep in a company cryo sleep chamber. They eat company cornbread. Apparently, functionally, our space truckers live in a company town.

[Kenny Malone]

Now, what makes Alien a smarter econ movie than it needs to be is that it goes further than just saying, like, oh, the crew's trapped. The therefore, they must do what their company says. Instead, this scene keeps going and the crew is like, well, if we do this little side mission, we better get overtime or something.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Can I say something?

[Alien Crew Member]

Let's talk about the bonus.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

There is a Clause in the contract.

[Greg Rosalski]

Okay, so that person who is. Well, actually there's a clause in the contract. He's an Android. He represents the company Wayland Yutani. He's a management shilling Big Narc Energy.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated.

[Alien Crew Member]

I don't want to hear it.

[Fede Alvarez]

Will you just listen to the man?

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

On penalty of total forfeiture of shares.

[Aaron Dube]

That sounds bad.

[Kenny Malone]

You got that? No money.

[Aaron Dube]

He said no money.

[Kenny Malone]

All right, we're going in.

[Alien Crew Member]

Yeah, we're going in.

[Greg Rosalski]

And that shut him up. They're kind of forced into doing this mission because surprise the company Waylon Yutani has hidden a clause in everyone's contract.

[Kenny Malone]

So just walk us through what a labor economist thinks watching that scene.

[Aaron Dube]

Yeah. So if the labor market's really competitive. The ability for companies to write contracts where there's sort of hidden risks. Right. Like hidden risk. Alien calls. Do you have to go pick up those would get priced out properly. And so you would get a bonus of some sort or get a higher pay. But if the market's not particularly competitive, then that could easily be that these shrouded. We call it shrouded attributes. People have the unpleasant finding out that actually your contract has things that you didn't fully factor in. And you're kind of stuck with it.

[Kenny Malone]

I mean, they don't know they're about to go be infected by a man eating super killer.

[Aaron Dube]

Yeah, I think the technical term is you're kind of screwed.

[Kenny Malone]

Now I just want to say how wonderful it is that the inciting incident of Alien is a shrouded attribute. It's this little clause about a wildly risky job responsibility that Weyland Yutani did not need to price into its worker pay. Because they could just bury it in the contract.

[Greg Rosalski]

And the fact that Weyland Yutani could get away with this. That is the second big clue that our poor space truckers, they are not just dealing with a bad labor market.

[Kenny Malone]

No, no, no. They're dealing with an infamous economic concept.

[Greg Rosalski]

A concept that could keep some labor economists up at night.

[Kenny Malone]

A concept that we are actively avoiding saying because.

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah, we wanted Aaron to say it.

[Kenny Malone]

Yeah, he says it.

[UFC Fighter/Expert]

Well.

[Kenny Malone]

Would you say that the thing we have not yet said is scarier or less scary than the xenomorph? The alien.

[Aaron Dube]

You know, in 8th grade not so much. But today. Yeah. You know, like xenomorphs are not great, but monopsony.

[Greg Rosalski]

It's coming to get me now. It bursted out of Kenny's chest. Help us.

[Kenny Malone]

Well, I will say we are bursting with enthusiasm to talk about monopsony. Yes, because Planet Money Stans will know that we love talking monopsony when we can. So of course Monopoly is where there's one big company selling in a market. Monopsony is when there is one company buying in a market. And you know, the version we probably hear most often is about one company buying labor, hiring people. So only one company that people can go work for. And it. It certainly seems as if the corporation Weyland Yutani is operating with the power of a monopsony in the dystopian sci fi future of alien.

[Greg Rosalski]

Now obviously this is a crazy fantastical world far off in space with aliens and xenomorphs and whatever, but these sort of all powerful monopsonies have existed in the real world, like mining towns that were owned and run by one company. And when there's only one in. Or how did Aaron put it again? Kind of screwed.

[Kenny Malone]

Yes, one company real bad for workers,

[Aaron Dube]

of course, in a company town. Or you know, like there's going to be monopsony power whale and Utami. But this is really a much more endemic feature of the labor market than people have really understood.

[Kenny Malone]

As in monopsony power is sneakily hiding all over our current labor market even when there is more than one company to go work for. And this, this actually is the part that should land like the economic version of a surprise alien bursting out of your colleague's chest. Greg, you want to go with that again?

[Greg Rosalski]

Am I the alien or the person?

[Kenny Malone]

I guess the monopsony was hid, hiding within us all along. That's the takeaway here. Yes.

[Greg Rosalski]

For decades economists assumed that labor markets were mostly competitive and that monopsonies, they could be treated like unicorns, you know, only found in rare circumstances. But Aaron and a growing number of economists, they're finding monopsonies. It's more kind of like a regular horse monopsony power. It's just like much more pervasive than previously thought.

[Kenny Malone]

Yes, sure, pervasive. But the key here is that monopsony power that Aaron and other researchers are finding. It's not obvious like in old mining towns or future space mining companies. It's kind of with us now, sneakily. So Aaron walks us through how to spot what today's monopsony power looks like for us.

[Aaron Dube]

I think that the key thing is to start with the like, what is monopsony power? Monopsony power means that workers can't easily Switch jobs and employers have some degree of choice of what kind of wages and what kind of working conditions to provide. Now why do they have this choice? Why don't you have basically I pay a little bit lower than the market wage. Everyone bolts and is gone to the next best alternative. Why does that not happen?

[Kenny Malone]

So it's not because we're stuck on spaceships. That's not the reason.

[Aaron Dube]

That's not the reason. That's like the fifth reason. But first, because there may be concentrated markets.

[Greg Rosalski]

Concentrated markets. So maybe we don't yet have one giant Whelen Yutani corporation running the world. But when you look at specific industries within specific geographies, some of those have been consolidating, offering fewer and fewer employers for people to work for.

[Kenny Malone]

As industries consolidate, employers tend to be able to reduce pay for workers. And one example Aaron points to in his book, somebody who is working in the skiing industry, ski industry.

[Aaron Dube]

You know like 25 years ago there was a lot of small family owned hills. But over the last 25, 30 years it's become very consolidated. Like for example in Vermont you could maybe go to the next one over and hey, that's also owned by the same employer. But you know that right? There is sort of a classic source of monopsony power that there may be less employers around than you may think for other kinds of work that you're doing.

[Greg Rosalski]

This seems to be true more broadly. Aaron points to one study that found typical American workers only have about three equal sized employers within driving distance for their particular employment field.

[Kenny Malone]

But even when you move to big cities where people have way more job options, Aaron's work has found that people simply do not quit a job for better paying jobs in the way that classic labor market theories would predict.

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah, maybe they kind of like their commute or they're like, oh I love my co workers, I'll miss them if I leave or you know, whatever. And then there's the fact that changing jobs is just a huge pain.

[Aaron Dube]

What we call in economics search frictions that employees actually have difficulty finding out about applying for quitting and taking a new job. These are costly. It's, it can be slow, it can be exhausting and it can take a lot of effort, especially when you already have another job.

[Kenny Malone]

And it's not just that changing jobs is annoying, which it is. Aaron says companies intentionally also make it harder for workers to jump ship and change jobs.

[Aaron Dube]

I talk about this monopsony by artifice. Here's an example. Non compete agreements. So a third or more of American Workers end up signing these.

[Kenny Malone]

A third.

[Aaron Dube]

Yeah.

[Kenny Malone]

Wow.

[Aaron Dube]

And by the way, sometimes it's argued that it's because to protect trade secrets. But then like Jimmy John sandwich chain summer camp in Massachusetts, the examples go on, but it's basically a way to reduce competition for workers.

[Kenny Malone]

What you're saying about the ways in which monopsony shows up, like, surely we're not all stuck on a spaceship with a single employer controlling our entire life. And what your research has shown is like, aren't we though in just littler ways?

[Aaron Dube]

That's right. So jobs are sticky, quitting is harder, and as a result, our working conditions and job quality are only partially determined by a well functioning market force. So yes, there's aspects of exactly what doesn't work in a very dramatic way in Alien does afflict us in smaller but important ways. And the good news is we have ways of fixing or improving those. More so than in the movie, perhaps.

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah. Aaron says in the real world we have ways to push back against monopsony power. Things like minimum wage laws, antitrust enforcement, and labor unions that fight for worker interests.

[Kenny Malone]

And this is basically what Aaron's book is about. He says the erosion of those counter forces is a big reason we've seen a stagnation of worker pay and a rise in inequality. That's in the real world, of course. But Aaron says he supposes those things would have helped in the movie Alien too.

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah, like imagine if in the movie the employees of Weyland Yutani were like in a really strong labor union or something like one that we see in a lot of other countries where they hammer out worker protections for a whole sector of the economy.

[Aaron Dube]

So if we had, for example, Sectoral Space Truckers association, the Square S T A. Yep.

[Kenny Malone]

The ssta.

[Aaron Dube]

The ssta. And so when they start having these debates about what they should do, there's a big volume of ssta, you know, contract, that lays out our collective bargaining. And in fact, if they found out something they didn't really like, they would say, you know what, let me call, let me talk to my shop steward.

[Kenny Malone]

That scene would probably play out a little different, wouldn't it?

[Aaron Dube]

It would sort of be a really boring scene. And then they would say, okay, fine, we're not going to do it. And then they're just going to go back to Earth, the end.

[Kenny Malone]

I don't know that that would be a boring scene.

[Greg Rosalski]

Sounds riveting to me, honestly.

[Kenny Malone]

Agree. And so Planet Money is proud to present the world premiere of Alien 1979. The Labor Economist's Cut and we hear

[Greg Rosalski]

from someone with firsthand knowledge of what it takes to make an actual alien movie and how to nail the perfect balance of labor, economics and killer aliens.

[Kenny Malone]

All of that after the break.

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[Kenny Malone]

Dell.com DellPCS the labor economist Aaron Dube's cut of Alien 1979 it starts the same way.

[Greg Rosalski]

Spaceship, computer, space sharkers wake up. But we asked Aaron Dube to tweak the labor conditions for a better worker outcome in Alien.

[Kenny Malone]

Aaron imagined instead a future where the space truckers were part of some sectoral bargaining agreement, where there was a strong union. And here, he thinks, is how the opening of Alien would have played out. Instead, some of you may have figured

[Fede Alvarez]

out we're not home yet.

[Kenny Malone]

Intercepted a transmission of unknown origins. A transmission out here?

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Yeah.

[Kenny Malone]

You got us up to check it out.

[Alien Crew Member]

This is a commercial ship, not a rescue ship, right? It's not my contract to do this kind of duty.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Sorry, can I say something? There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be.

[Greg Rosalski]

No, hold on. I think somebody's trying to say something in the back.

[Aaron Dube]

Yeah, remember our grievance procedure? So I'm going to file that. And while it's being investigated, we actually can't go. That's part of the rule. So the end.

[Kenny Malone]

Back to the cryo sleep.

[Aaron Dube]

Back to cryosleep we go. It's a YouTube short.

[Kenny Malone]

Okay, okay.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Yes.

[Kenny Malone]

Ultimately, you cannot have Alien without all these labor dynamics, the negative amenities, shrouded attributes, the monopsony. And I would contend that all of that rich texture is what makes this movie special and a huge part of what makes Alien more than just another good horror movie.

[Greg Rosalski]

Yeah, there are now a bunch of Alien movies. And the best of those, they strike this delicate balance of space terror and smart economic themes. And we were unbelievably excited to get to talk to someone who has actually had to walk that econ horror tightrope.

[Kenny Malone]

I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. Do you remember off the top of your head the first words that are spoken in your film?

[Sponsor Announcer]

Alien.

[Kenny Malone]

Romulus.

[Fede Alvarez]

First word I have spoken. What is. Let me remember.

[Greg Rosalski]

This is Fede Alvarez. He co wrote and directed the newest film in the Alien franchise.

[Kenny Malone]

I can give you the answer if you want.

[Fede Alvarez]

Attention all workers.

[Kenny Malone]

Attention all workers.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Yeah.

[Greg Rosalski]

Attention all workers. Attention all workers. Day shift starting T minus 15 minutes.

[Kenny Malone]

We at Planet Money, we bring our economics lens to everything. But surely we are not hallucinating that you also have chosen to put labor dynamics to some degree front and center here. Yes.

[Fede Alvarez]

Oh, yeah. Well, I think when you're gonna make an Alien movie, the first thing you do is trying to study what make the best iterations of this franchise. And I think if you look at the first one, you look even the second one and the third one, they're always talking about that. I mean, in a way, the how powerless the individual can be, you know, in front of the machine.

[Greg Rosalski]

This is kind of a big deal for us. Fede Alvarez, he's a very accomplished horror thriller director. He made his first films in Uruguay. He co wrote and directed a huge hit in the United States called Don't Breathe. He also directed a reboot of the Evil Dead, which was freaking awesome and supposedly set a record for gallons of fake blood used in a movie.

[Kenny Malone]

Indeed, rains fake blood, Lots of fake blood. And yeah, Greg and I, big Fede Alvarez fans. And clearly Fede knows that great Alien movies need smart ideas about labor and work. He's not a labor economist, though. So we wanted to talk to Fede about how he went about finding and building those smart ideas into his movie.

[Greg Rosalski]

And Fetty told us he admittedly did not notice the econ in Alien at first, but later, when he was around age 20, he started to understand that this movie, it's saying something much bigger.

[Fede Alvarez]

You know, the movie Stars. And as soon as they're at the table, they talk about the bonus situation.

[Kenny Malone]

And it's like, right away, it's like, first thing, we're in a contract. It's wild.

[Fede Alvarez]

It's the first thing they do and talk about their rights as workers. But also, they're not just talking about that. They talk about inequality as well. They're talking about, why am I getting, you know, less money than you guys? And, you know, and the captain goes like, you know, you're gonna get what you deserve. And obviously he's talking about, when the monster comes, we're to be the same. We're all going to be equal. Actually, the captain stopped was one of the first ones to die. And that shows how death is that big an equalizer.

[Kenny Malone]

So I am curious. We're going to get a little economicsy here, with your permission. Yes, of course. Okay, great. Have you ever heard the term monopsony? Has this come across your radar?

[Alien Romulus Character]

Oh, no.

[Kenny Malone]

Okay. Because you 1000% nail this perfectly in your movie.

[Alien Crew Member]

Exchange.

[Kenny Malone]

The company pays us for food and shelter and takes our lives in exchange.

[Greg Rosalski]

Okay, let us set this up for you. If you haven't seen Fede's movie, Alien, Romulus, in his Alien, we actually start on a mining and farming planet, a colony entirely controlled by the corporation Wayland Yutani.

[Kenny Malone]

And it is, you know, bad workers are living some version of indentured servitude in a company town. And just like in the original Alien, one of Fede's first scenes is simple, yet stuffed with all kinds of huge labor economics.

[Greg Rosalski]

Right. Our protagonist, a young woman named Rain, she goes into Weyland Yutani's Office of Colony affairs, and she tries to submit some paperwork to get off this planet. You know, basically, she's trying to quit her job.

[Alien Romulus Character]

Full name and occupation, please.

[Aaron Dube]

Marie Raines.

[Fede Alvarez]

Carried, ma'.

[Alien Crew Member]

Am.

[Kenny Malone]

I met my quota and I should be free to go now.

[Alien Romulus Character]

I'm sorry, but you're not eligible for contract release yet.

[Kenny Malone]

Wait, what?

[Alien Movie Narrator]

No, no.

[Aaron Dube]

I reached the required hours.

[Alien Romulus Character]

Unfortunately, quotas have been raised to 24,000 hours, so you'll be released from contract in another five to six years. Thank you. And remember, the company is really grateful for your ongoing service.

[Greg Rosalski]

This is a depiction of monopsony that could be taught in economics classes. The way that remote towns historically created this kind of trapped labor force. The way company towns infamously had so much control that workers had to use fake company money to buy things from their company stores using company scrip.

[Kenny Malone]

We asked Fede if he and his Co writer Rodo Sayagas had researched, like, case studies to get this right. And he was like, yeah, but also, it's a bit more intuitive than that. And it's also about early on in the movie, setting up what he thinks is the ultimate theme of a good Alien movie, general powerlessness.

[Fede Alvarez]

And in the case of Alien, it's always Weyland Yutani represents the government. It can be literally that in the stories, but it's also, you know, how you feel powerless versus something that cannot be destroyed, that seems to. You cannot negotiate with. That seems that it's relentless. So I think that's why I think the best ones, they always start there. They get the audience. They draw them in from a perspective of, you know, everybody knows how it feels to be in that place, and B, feel powerless.

[Kenny Malone]

I've read a few quotes from you about this as an Uruguayan.

[Fede Alvarez]

Exactly.

[Alien Crew Member]

Yeah.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Yeah.

[Kenny Malone]

You said things like growing up under a dictatorship in a developing country, that there is a feeling that may seem specific but is universal about sort of a lack of options for you as a young person.

[Fede Alvarez]

Yeah. I mean, ironically, at the same time, yes. Uruguay, by being born in a dictatorship, like, my parents, had some mentality, in a way of a survival instinct that came from being born in that environment where you didn't have a lot of choices. And if you grew a beard, you will get arrested. But at the same time, that being said, there's also. The other side of it is when I moved to the United States, when I make Evil Dead, my first film, and I moved here, it was like, wait a second, you guys don't have, like, vacation salary? Like, you don't have, like, guarantee 30 days of vacation every year. And people were like, what are you talking about?

[Kenny Malone]

You have to work?

[Fede Alvarez]

And I was like, what. What is this dystopian society? So, you know, Uruguay, we have health care. It's free health care. And, you know, particularly on the employer dynamics, if you get hired by a company and. And they want to fire you, it's okay. They can fire you, but they will have to pay you. There's all this severance thing. They have to pay you at least a month of salary for each year that at the company. So the more you work, the harder it is to fire. And I took for granted all my life living there. And then when I came here and people laughing at all this nonsense. So for me, that also made me understand why in Alien, it was important, if I was gonna make one, to really bring some of the subjects to the forefront.

[Kenny Malone]

A rumor on the street is that you and Roto have already written the sequel to Alien Romulus, Is that correct?

[Fede Alvarez]

We did.

[NPR Politics Podcast Announcer]

We did.

[Fede Alvarez]

I didn't wanna direct another one.

[Kenny Malone]

No, no, no questions about whether you're going to direct. I don't need spoilers. You don't need to spoil any plot, but can you exclusively for our Planet Money audience. Tell us, will we get more labor economics?

[Fede Alvarez]

Definitely. That's what they're all about. Yeah, that's what they're all about. It's not a good Alien movie if you deal with it.

[UFC Fighter/Expert]

That's true.

[Kenny Malone]

Can we expect now that I've taught you the term monopsony, is it too late to change your next script and throw a little sprinkling, a little monopsony?

[Greg Rosalski]

Don't you see it, guys?

[Fede Alvarez]

This is equinoxing. The whole theater is going.

[Planet Money Intro Announcer]

Is it?

[Alien Crew Member]

What?

[Kenny Malone]

Yeah, that's right. They're going to know. They'll know. They'll know. Fede, thank you so much. This was awesome. I hope you enjoyed talking some of this.

[Fede Alvarez]

No, my pleasure. My pleasure.

[Kenny Malone]

Don't fast forward. We've got a special event to tell you about that is just going to be for our NPR supporters. If you couldn't make one of our book tour events back in April, we've got great news for you. We're doing one more, one more book tour event. This time it's a live virtual event. It's on Thursday, June 25th at 3pm Eastern. My colleague Jeff Guo will be there, the main author of our book, Alex Maassi, he will be there. We'll also have some special guests, tbd if you've already joined npr, thank you. And listen to our most recent bonus episode to find out how to register for the event. And if you have not joined NPR yet, well, make sure you're signed up by June 24th. To get our invite, just go to plus.npr.org Again, that is plus.npr.org Signing up is a great way to support the show, NPR and independent nonprofit journalism. We'll see you there.

[Greg Rosalski]

Today's episode of Planet Money was produced by the wonderful, the incomparable James Sneed, Go Nix. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Our executive producer is Alex Goldmark.

[Kenny Malone]

Special thanks this week to Taylor Haber and to you, Greg Rosalski, you little xenomorph, you. Greg, if you are not familiar, is our newsletter writer and wrote two excellent newsletters about monopsony, about the movie Alien, about Aaron Dube and those inspired this show so you can find those. We're going to link to them in our show notes.

[Avalara Announcer]

Yeah.

[Greg Rosalski]

Thanks, Kenny. Really appreciate that.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Yeah.

[Kenny Malone]

I'm Kenny Malone.

[Greg Rosalski]

And I'm Greg Rosalski. This is npr. Thanks for listening.

[NPR Politics Podcast Announcer]

The Keys this week on the NPR Politics Podcast, new polling shows President Trump is more unpopular than ever. Trump turned 80 this week. One voter who voted for him in 2024 had this message.

[Aaron Dube]

I would have said I would have

[Kenny Malone]

bought you a cake, but I can't afford one.

[Aaron Dube]

But happy birthday.

[NPR Politics Podcast Announcer]

The signals are getting louder for this year's midterms. Voters aren't happy. We'll talk about it on the NPR Politics Podcast. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Planet Money Intro Announcer]

Every episode of it's been a minute. NPR's what's Happening in Culture podcast starts by asking three questions.

[Kenny Malone]

Who?

[Planet Money Intro Announcer]

How? Why? Now? If the culture's asking it, we're talking about it at npr. We stand for your right to be curious and indulge your cultural curiosity. Follow It's Been a Minute. Wherever you get your pack podcasts and we'll break down the zeitgeist y topics that are filling your feed.

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