Introduction to Labor Economics

Chapter 1

Labor Economics
Goals:

Why did female LFP increase in the 1900s? How does immigration affect wages, labor supply, opportunities, etc of native workers? How do minimum wages affect the unemployment rate? Do wage and tax subsidies affect the demand for labor? What impact do occupational and health regulations have on hiring, wages, etc.?
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Labor Economics, cont.

Do human capital investment subsidies improve the wellbeing of disadvantaged workers? Why does wage inequality exist? What impact does affirmative action have on earnings, the number of minorities a firm hires, etc? How do unions affect labor markets? How do unemployment benefits affect the incidence of and length of spells?

Labor Market Participants

Labor Market Participants: Workers

Determine:

Goal:

Whether or not to work How many hours to work Which skills to acquire Whether or not to quit a job Which occupation to work in Whether to join a union How much effort to put forth at work
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Labor Market Participants: Firms

Determine:

Goal:

How many workers to employ Which workers to hire How much to pay each worker Whether to hire additional workers Whether to fire workers How much capital to employ Working conditions Length of the workweek
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Labor Market Participants: The Government

Regulations determine ground rules in the labor market

Taxes on earnings Training subsidies Payroll taxes Affirmative action laws Minimum wages Worker condition regulations Immigration laws
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Appendix: Econometrics
Regression analysis:
y= x= m=

y mx b

interpretation:

Regression Example: GPA

GPA Hours
Hours = number of hours spent studying

GPA if hours 0
Regression analysis attempts to fit the data with a line by minimizing the sum of squared errors GPA Hours

Regression Analysis, cont.

Measuring the quality of the estimated coefficients:

Standard Error:
Margin of error = 2 x SE Needed because of errors in the data, etc.

T-statistic =
Measures significance of the independent variable in explaining variation in the dependent variable Coefficient is significantly different from zero if tstat > 1.96

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Multiple Regression
GPA is influenced by more than the number of hours someone studies
GPA Hours Office Visits

Interpretation of each coefficient:

Can only hold constant variables included in the regression

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