ECON 442/542 - Labor and Human Resource Economics

The generic production process in economics uses capital and labor inputs to produce output for sale in the marketplace. This course focuses on the labor input by studying employers, employees, and their relationships. Within this context, labor and human resource economics addresses issues such as compensation, labor force participation and retirement decisions, job characteristics, education and training, immigration, discrimination, earnings inequality, and unemployment. Studying these relationships is important because they provide insights about our lives and have the potential to direct public policy. This course’s objective is to develop a systematic understanding of the motivations and desires of employers and employees. The successful student will be able to conduct a meaningful discourse about seminal labor-related issues.

---

Syllabus
Topics (Notes, Homework Problems, and Answer keys)
Old Exams
Worksheets

Data

---

Topics (documents include notes, problem sets, and answer keys)

• Topic 1: Supply of Labor
• Topic 2: Household Production, the Family and the Life Cycle
• Topic 3: Compensating Wage Differentials
• Topic 4: Investment in Human Capital
• Topic 5: Worker Mobility
• Topic 6: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity
• Topic 7: Inequality in Earnings
• Topic 8: Unemployment

---

Old Exams

• Test 1 Fall 1998
• Test 2 Fall 1998
• Test 3 Fall 1998
• Test 1 Spring 1999
• Test 2 Spring 1999
• Test 1 Spring 2003
• Test 2 Spring 2003
• Test 1 Spring 2004
• Test 2 Spring 2004
• Test 3 Spring 2004
• Test 1 Spring 2005
• Test 2 Spring 2005
• Test 3 Spring 2005

---

Worksheets

• Worksheet 2: Household Production, the Family and the Life Cycle