Economics 337: Labor Economics
Optional Texts
Ehrenberg and Smith. Modern Labor Economics, 9th Edition.
Curriculum
Prerequisites
I will assume you understand the material in ECO 303. I will use derivatives and integrals freely in class. But I will provide a review of the calculus to be used in class.
Course Work and Grading:
65% Final
25% Midterm
10% Quizzes (Students who miss quizzes must turn in homework assignments as a substitute for quizzes. Any student who receives a grade less than 50% on a quiz must turn in the associated homework assignment no more than one week after receiving the grade less than 50%. Any required homework assignment not turned in on time will result in a 1/3 letter grade reduction in the student's final grade. For example, if a student's grade prior to the no homework penalty is A and the student missed two homework assignments, then the student's final grade would be B+.)
Attendance is mandatory. If a student plans to miss a class, then he/she should email me prior to the class. Students may exit the class for short periods of time when necessary. If the student leaves for a long period of time, then, even if the exit was necessary, it is counted as a missed class. Students should take appropriate steps to avoid exits (eg., use the bathroom prior to class). There is a strong penalty for missed classes. The penalty is:
Missed Class Penalty
Each occurrence of cheating associated with attendance counts as 2 missed classes for the student not in attendance and 6 missed classes for the student who reported the other as in attendance.
Example 1: George misses class and does not send an email prior to the class. Fred reports George as in attendance. Both are caught, reported, and found guilty. Then George loses 2 classes of attendance and Fred loses 6 classes of attendance.
Example 2: George misses class and sends an email prior to the class. Fred reports George as in attendance. Fred is caught, reported, and found guilty. Then Fred loses 6 classes of attendance.
Example 3: George misses class and does not send an email prior to class. No one reports George as in attendance. Then no cheating occurred.
Example 4: George comes to the beginning of class and signs in as attending. Then George leaves class without reporting
Example 5: George attends class but fails to report himself as in attendance. After class, George tries to argue that he was in attendance. George is counted as missing class (possibly because he was late and missed the sign-in period), but he is not counted as cheating. Essentially, there are no valid excuses for failing to sign in, and attempts to make excuses is no more than a waste of everyone’s time.