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Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Recitations: 1 session / week, 1.5 hours / session

Description

The aim of this course is to acquaint students with traditional topics in labor economics and to encourage the development of independent research interests. Primary topics are neoclassical analysis of the labor market and its institutions and systematic development of the theory of labor supply, labor demand, and human capital. Topics discussed also include wage and employment determination, turnover, search, immigration, unemployment, equalizing differences, and institutions in the labor market.

Prerequisites

The prerequisite courses are Intermediate Microeconomic Theory (14.04), and Econometrics (14.32).

Required Texts

There are no official textbooks for the course. Required papers, book excerpts, and books are listed in the readings section.

Recommended Texts

Ashenfelter, Orley, and R. Layard, eds. The Handbook of Labor Economics. Vols. 1 and 2. Amsterdam, Netherlands: North-Holland, 1986. ISBN: 0444878564, ISBN: 0444878572.

Ashenfelter, Orley, and David Card, eds. The Handbook of Labor Economics. Vols. 3A, 3B, and 3C. Amsterdam, Netherlands: North-Holland, 1999. ISBN: 0444501878, ISBN: 0444501886, ISBN: 0444501894.

Borjas, George. Labor Economics. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Irwin/McGraw Hill, 2000. ISBN: 0072311983.

Grading

In addition to readings, there are 5 graded problem sets, an empirical project involving a replication and extension of published work, and a 3-hour final exam during exam week.

Course Outline

Part One: Taught by Joshua Angrist

I. Labor Market Statistics: Data Sources and Historical Overview

II. The Neoclassical Labor Supply Model

A. Basics

B. Tax and Transfer Programs

C. The Life-Cycle Model

D. Household and Family Models

III. Labor Demand, Immigration, Minimum Wages, and Unions

A. Labor Demand and Immigration

B. Minimum Wages

C. Unions

IV. Human Capital, Education, and Training

A. Schooling, Experience, and Earnings

B. Training Evaluations

C. School Inputs, Incentives and Peer Effects

D. Other Human Capital and Schooling Topics

Part Two: Taught by Steve Pischke

E. The Signaling Model of Schooling

F. On-the-job Training

V. Labor Demand and Related Topics

A. Labor Demand

B. Monopsony

C. Minimum Wages

VI. Turnover, Matching, Learning, and the Returns to Tenure