Dr Stefano Gagliarducci (room S375)

This course is optional for BSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, BSc Economics, BSc Economics and Economic History, BSc Management, BSc Philosophy and Economics and BSc Social Policy and Economics. This course is also available to General Course students.

Students should have completed Microeconomics Principles I or II (or equivalent) and Macroeconomic Principles (or equivalent) as well as Introduction to Econometrics (or equivalent).

This course is an introduction to the economic analysis of behaviour and institutions in the labour market. Primarily microeconomic models are applied to labour market phenomena, such as labour supply and participation, labour demand by firms, and wage determination under different institutional settings. Students learn how to distinguish alternative theories empirically and how key parameters are obtained from the data. The course explores how the models can be applied to evaluate labour market policies, such as the minimum wage, the welfare reform, or restricting immigration. The goal of the course is to enable students to think independently about labour market issues, drawing on the models and tools developed during the course.

Lectures EC317: 30 hours MT and LT.

Classes EC317.A: 15 MT and LT.

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

G Borjas, Labor Economics. Additional reading, drawn from journals, will be suggested during the course.

A three-hour written examination in the ST.