LABOUR ECONOMICS

Course for the third year of the BA in ECONOMIA E COMMERCIO - ECONOMICS, MARKETS AND FINANCE

The aim of the course is to acquaint students with the main topics in labor economics and to stimulate readings and understanding of the current research. The focus is on reading and understanding the fundamental models of labor economics and some of their empirical applications.

You are expected to be comfortable with the material covered in introductory and intermediate
microeconomics courses.

This course is an introduction to labor economics and policy. Labor economics as a field has grown enormously in the past several decades. Although originally focused on the interactions between firms
and workers, modern labor research examines diverse areas such as education, health, family interactions, inequality and immigration.
The first part of the course will cover the fundamental topics in labor economics, particularly the study of a special institution called the "labor market". The second part of the course will review a selection
of the most debated issues in the field. Our approach will be both theoretical and empirical: We will discuss theoretical models as well as the evidence on how well the real world matches the predictions of such models.
By the end of the term, you will have acquired a set of tools to understand the policy debate about, for instance, employment and unemployment, the education system, health systems, income inequality,
discrimination, immigration.
Part I. Core Topics
1. Introduction to Labor Economics
2. Labor Supply
3. Labor Demand
4. Labor Market Equilibrium
Part II: Selected Topics in Contemporary Labor Economics
[We will cover only a selection of these topics, possibly with Students’ presentations, depending on class size and interests]
5. Compensating Wage Differentials
6. Human Capital
7. Health, Health Insurance, and the Labor Market
8. Inequality
9. Population Aging and the Future of Work
10. Labor Mobility: Migration
11. Labor Market Discrimination:
12. Unemployment

Borjas, G.J. "Labour Economics" 7th edition, Mc-Graw Hill.

Ehrenberg, R.G., and Smith, R.G., Modern Labor Economics, 13th Edition, Routledge.

Additional selected papers, which constitute compulsory reading to undertake the exam, will be distributed during the course and will be available on the website of the course

Written exam (exercises and open-ended questions).
Students attending the course will be given the opportunity of being partly assessed through class presentations.

The course mostly follows a conventional teaching approach, combined with active and flipped learning activities

English

For any course-related information, students should trust only the course website:
(password provided in class or during office hours).

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development