Courses:

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A course outline is available below.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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