Professor Brown: Thursday 10-12 at IIR, 2521 Channing Way
Cindy Gustafson: Wednesday from 10:30 to 12:30 in Evans office
Ben Campbell: Tuesday
9:30-11:30 at IIR
Section Times:
Section 101: Wednesday 8-9AM, 81 Evans, GSI:
Cindy Gustafson
Section 102: Wednesday 9-10AM, 50 Barrows,
GSI: Cindy Gustafson
Section 103: Monday 2-3PM, 81 Evans, GSI: Ben
Campbell
Section 104: Monday 3-4PM, 81 Evans, GSI: Ben
Campbell
Course Overview and Objectives:
This course teaches how the US labor market functions. In particular, we focus on how demand and supply of labor along with institutions determine wages and employment. We will also study the role of public policy in affecting labor market outcomes. In class we will apply the theory to analyze the current economy, especially the US labor market, and students will be required to read either the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times.
By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the performance and characteristics of the current U.S labor market, understand theories of how labor markets function, and be able to present and argue for specific policy approaches to current labor market problems.
Grading:
Final grade will be
based on a maximum of 240 points:
60 points
Two Problem Sets and One Short Paper
60 points
Midterm Exam
100 points
Final Exam
20 points
Participation
Required Background: Intermediate microeconomic theory.
Readings:
Text: Ronald G. Ehrenberg and Robert S. Smith, Modern Labor
Economics: Theory and
Public Policy (Sixth Edition), 1997.
Reader: Eleven additional readings; availability will be announced
at the first class.
Newspaper: Students are expected to read the Wall Street
Journal or the New York Times Monday through Friday of each
week and participate in class discussions of current labor market events.
Required readings average about 30 pages of text and
15 pages of outside reading plus the newspaper each week. You are expected
to do all the reading.
Course Requirements:
Students are expected to complete all reading before each class and
to attend all lectures and sections, as class participation is important.
Requirements include two out of three problem sets (student's choice),
a short paper, a mid-term exam, a final exam, and class participation.
All class handouts (e.g., problem sets and solutions) will be available at in 649 Evans Hall and on the Class Web Site.
The problem sets/paper must be turned in during section the weeks of February 15, March 1, April 12, and May 3. The assignments will be handed out 3-4 lectures (about 10 days) before the due date.
Late problem sets will not be accepted. No exceptions.
You cannot miss the midterm since there will be no make-up exam
for the midterm.
The only acceptable absences from final exam are: documentation
from a hospital/medical center if you are seriously ill; documentation
from a family doctor or minister if there is a death in the family.
Incompletes in this course must be granted by the chair of the department,
who will grant them only in extraordinary circumstances.
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