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Dr Guy Michaels SAL2.10

Professor Stephen Machin SAL.2.06A

This course is available on the BSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, BSc in Economics, BSc in Economics and Economic History, BSc in International Social and Public Policy and Economics, BSc in Philosophy and Economics, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with a Year Abroad). This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course is available with permission to General Course students.

Students must have completed Microeconomic Principles I (EC201) or Microeconomic Principles II (EC202) or Microeconomics II (EC2A1) or Microeconomics II (EC2A3), or equivalent.  Also, students must have completed Introduction to Econometrics (EC220) or Principles of Econometrics (EC221) or Econometrics II (EC2C1) or Econometrics I (EC2C3) in combination with Econometrics II (EC2C4), or equivalent. 

This course is an introduction to the economic analysis of behaviour and institutions in labour markets. In the AT, primarily microeconomic models are applied to labour market phenomena, such as labour supply and participation for individuals and households, labour demand by firms, wage determination, employment, and unemployment under different institutional settings. Specific topics to be studied in the WT include: labour market outcomes by gender; labour market discrimination; labour market inequalities and technological change; education and wage returns; minimum wages; trade unions; alternative work arrangements; crime and the labour market. Students will learn in classes how to distinguish alternative theories empirically using real world data. The course explores how models and empirical analysis can be applied to evaluate labour market policies, some examples being the minimum wage, school dropout ages, welfare programmes, and immigration restrictions. The goal of the course is to enable students to think critically and independently about labour market issues, drawing on the models and tools developed during the course.

15 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the AT. 15 hours of lectures and 9 hours of classes in the WT. 1 hour of classes in the ST.

There will be a reading week in Week 6 of WT (no lectures or classes that week).

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 50 hours across Autumn Term, Winter Term and Spring Term.  

Problems sets in the course involve hands-on statistical analysis of real world data.

G Borjas, Labor Economics. Additional reading, drawn from chapters of books, specific reviews and journals, are suggested during the course and specified in the reading list.

Exam (85%, duration: 3 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the spring exam period.
Class participation (15%) in the AT and WT.