This course covers selected topics in labor economics. The students learn basic definitions and relations necessary to describe a labor market, how the demand for labor is determined, and what affects the decision to supply labor. We discuss wage-setting mechanisms, labor productivity, and discrimination in the labor market. The course also covers an introduction to unemployment and labor mobility issues.
After completing this course, the students should be able to describe a labor market and perform an intuitive analysis of potential consequences of labor market reforms.
HOME ASSIGNMENT 2 - deadline October 23 - submit electronically to your local teacher.
HOME ASSIGNMENT 1 - deadline October 9 - submit electronically to your local teacher.
Here you can see an example of well solved Home Assignment 1.
FINAL EXAM: Monday, November 2, usual lecture time.
Course outline (the complete syllabus can be downloaded here):
Week 1: Introduction to labor economics: basic concepts
(based on Chapters 1 & 2 of the textbook)
Week 2: Labor demand: profit maximization, short-run and long-run demand for labor, labor demand elasticity
(based on Chapters 3 & 4 of the textbook)
Week 3: Labor supply: budget constraint, decision to work, household production
(based on Chapters 6 & 7 of the textbook)
Week 4: Equilibrium wage, compensating wage differentials, and hedonic wage theory
(based on Chapter 8 of the textbook)
Week 5: Human capital
(based on Chapters 9 of the textbook)
Week 6: Unemployment
(based on Chapter 14 of the textbook)