The application of economic models to labour market phenomena, such as labour supply and participation, labour demand by firms, and wage determination under different institutional settings; the employment effects of economic policies, such as reforms of the labour market and of the welfare system; application to problems of economic development; labour in the new age of digital transformation and climate and health emergencies
George J. Borjas, Labor Economics, Mc Graw Hill, 2016
Learning Objectives
The purpose of the course is to give the theoretical and applied tools to understand the economics of labour markets with a special focus on the relationship with problems of economic development.
In particular the lectures will illustrate how economic models are applied to labour market phenomena, such as labour supply and participation, labour demand by firms, and wage determination under different institutional settings. Furthermore, it is shown how alternative theories can be tested empirically and how economic models can be applied to evaluate the employment effects of economic policies, such as reforms of the labour market and of the welfare system.
Seminars and presentations by students will focus on key issues of labour markets in developing countries (such as the introduction of a minimum wage, the distinction between formal and informal employment, rural and urban labour markets, the role of education and human capital, the determinants of returns to human capital investments, labour migration and remittances, discrimination and ethnicity, gender gaps, health and nutrition effects on labour productivity) as well as on the prospects of labour in the age of digital transformation and climate and health emergencies.
The course is intended for both the curricula in economics and development.
Prerequisites
First level Microeconomic and Macroeconomics
Teaching Methods
Lectures and Seminars
Further information
A reading list for applications and presentations will be provided during the lectures.
Type of Assessment
Written test and oral presentations during the seminars
Course program
Labor supply.
Labor demand.
Labor market equilibrium.
Human capital.
The wage structure.Migration.
Labor market gender and other discrimination.
Unions.
Unemployment.
Applications to the labour market in developing countries, labour policies, the future of labour and the new forms of employment.