Course description: During the past half century, Americans have observed dramatic increases in female labor force participation, delayed marriage, increased divorce rates, reduced fertility rates, and increased longevity. This study examines economic trends in family and labor markets, including wage differentials, gender/race inequalities, occupations and earnings, labor force participation and economic mobility. Economic theories that explain human capital choices, discrimination, marriage, fertility and family decision making are introduced.
Goals: 1) Learn to apply the tools of economic analysis to the labor market and the household, 2) Develop the skills to think critically about gender issues, including policy interventions
Textbook : Blau, Ferber, Winkler. The Economics of Women, Men and Work, 7th edition. Cheap on www.abebooks.com.
Course modules, Readings, HWs
1. Historical perspectives
- Read ch 1,2 (skip ch 1 appendix)
- Scarcity & Choice – video
- Opportunity Cost – youtube
- Estimated cost of a child – slate
- The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity
- Division of Labor: Burgers and Ships
- How the Division of Knowledge Saved My Son’s Life
- Homework 1
2. Family as an Economic Unit
- Read ch 3, 4
- Grades, graphs and opportunity costs – individual PPC
- Absolute and Comparative Advantage- division of labor
- Gains from specialization – for individuals, families, countries
- How much is a homemaker worth? -household production
- Spouses should not split household tasks evenly – Atlantic
- The biology of gender – TED talk
- Homework 2
3. Labor force and labor supply
- Read ch 5,6
- Types of Unemployment- video
- Unemployment Rates by state – BLS
- Current unemployment rate – BLS- see right hand column
- Labor force characteristics by ethnicity – pdf
- The missing men – fewer men in labor force, Atlantic
- The Tradeoff Between Fun and Wages -marginal revolution
-
Labor Market, Wage, Minimum Wage– Crash Course
- Homework 3
4. Wages and gender differences
- Read ch 1 appendix on supply and demand
- Market in simple terms
- Demand – youtube
- Change in Demand vs Change in Quantity Demanded – youtube
- Supply – youtube
- Market Equilibrium – youtube
- The Demand Curve
- The Supply Curve
- The Equilibrium Price
- A Deeper Look at the Demand Curve
- The Demand Curve Shifts
- A Deeper Look at the Supply Curve
- The Supply Curve Shifts
- Exploring Equilibrium
- Does the Equilibrium Model Work?
- Supply and Demand Terminology
- The Marginal Product of Labor -marginal revolution
- Those Astronomical ATHLETE SALARIES
- Sports and Wages – Encyclopedia of Economics
- Do Unions Raise Wages? -marginal revolution
- Henry Ford and high wages – article
- Compensating Differentials -marginal revolution
- Wages and Working Conditions – Encyclopedia of Economics
- Job Safety – Encyclopedia of Economics
- Minimum wage – youtube
- Price Floors: The Minimum Wage – mr
- Minimum Wages in America – by state
- Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers – DOL
- Ripple Effects of Raising the Minimum Wage – DS
- Labor market and minimum wage -video, 60sec
- Homework 4
5. Gender differences
- Read ch 7
- Do Women Earn Less than Men? – learn liberty
- Gender pay gap – policy research institute
- Pay gap explained – Pew research video
- The narrowing pay gap – Pew 2018
- No, women do not make less money than men – 2014
- Freakonomics on gender pay gap – 2016, article, podcast
- Gender gap lie – slate 2013
- Long hours of work and gender gap – NYTimes 2019
- How do college majors contribute to pay gap? -glassdoor
- Male and female occupations since 1950 – visual
- Databook on women in the labor force – wages, occupations
- Occupational handbook -fastest growing & fastest declining jobs
- Why women don’t take risks with their money – the Atlantic
- So much for that merit raise – wages and appearance
- The gay and transgender wage gap – center for american prog
- Who wins the name game? – the Atlantic
- How do babies with black names fair? – freakonomics
- Reconciling conflicting evidence on ethnic names – fed
- Homework 5
6. Human capital
- Ch 8,9
- Human Capital – Encyclopedia of Economics
- Economic benefits of education – college board
- Is College Worth It? – Green brothers
- Why Is Higher Education So Expensive? – supply and demand
- Econ Duel: Is Education Signaling or Skill Building?
- Human Capital and Signaling
- The world may be better without college – education as signaling
- Earnings by gender, education, occupation – BLS
- The value of college major -key findings,explore data
- Occupational Handbook – click Occupation Groups-wage info
- Podcast on the value of education – freakonomics
- Is Medical School a Worthwhile Investment? – atlantic
- The state of American jobs – Pew
- Homework 6
7. Labor market discrimination
- Ch 10, 11, 12
- Statistical discrimination – definition
- Discrimination – Encyc of Econ, how competition helps
- What Do You Have Against DISCRIMINATION? – p.guide
- Why blacks earn less than whites do – Slate, numeric example
- Racial discrimination in the US – video presents evidence
- Homework 7
8. Marriage and divorce
- Ch 13, 14
- Marriage & Intermarriage -Pew research
- The economics of marriage – world finance
- Cohabitation benefits -on financial benefits
- Tim Harford, The economics of marriage – Slate
- Tim Harford, Divorce Is Good for Women – Slate
- How to Save Marriage– marriage trends in US, Atlantic 2014
- Why Aren’t More Wives Outearning Their Husbands? – Atlantic
- The dating gap – why not in women’s favor? Guardian 2015
- The economics of sex – supply and demand in market for sex
- The rise of wives – Pew Research Center
- Men marry up educationally – institute for family studies
- Lorna Wendt’s $20 million divorce– home production value
- My divorce cost me $250,000 – a woman’s story
- Gay marriage around the world – pew research
- Marriage premium for men – why do married men earn more?
- David Friedman Law’s Order: What Economics Has to Do With Law and Why It Matters” , read Ch 13
- Homework 8
9. Government policies and other countries
- Ch 15,16, 17,18
- Social trends – Pew research
- Are the poor getting poorer? – no, income mobility
- The United States of inequality, 2010 set of 10 parts
- Income inequality debate – why inequality rising
- Inequality and poverty in US – various measures
- The height of inequality – atlantic
- Geographical segregation in the US? -Slate
- Inequality: the choices we made – some laws made it worse
- Total inequality – why is it damaging for society?
- U.S. Ranks Near Bottom on Income Inequality
- The new middle class trap– the Atlantic
- The Rise of the New Global Elite – Atlantic
- What blocks social mobility? Single parents – slate
- Who received food stamps -factsheet – Pew research
- Poverty info and stats from Census -official site
- More Americans emerging from poverty – why and how
- Wealth inequality stats – and charts – discussion of policies
- The 9.9 percent – atlantic
- Homework 9
10. Personal project: Literature review (3-4 pages)
Research 3 recent published articles by economists on a topic of your choice. Describe their methods and findings. Use JSTOR article database on ESC library site, choose ‘Economics’ and your keywords in advanced search. Examples of topics:
- Male-female wage differential
- Intermarriage & outcomes for children
- Labor market outcomes for gay workers
- Marriage laws: differences across states, and impact
- Labor market and other outcomes for new immigrants
- Education, impact on health or another outcome of your choice
- Children and labor market outcomes of mothers
- Evidence of discrimination in a particular market
- Outcomes of your choice for a demographic group
*********************************************************
Further readings
Books written by economists and sociologists are availble from the recent non-fiction shelf in your public library. For example:
- Joanne Lipman, That’s What she said.
- Alison Wolf, The XX Factor: How the Rise of Working Women Has Created a Far Less Equal World
- Eric Klinenberg, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone
- Joseph E. Stiglitz , The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future
- Liza Mundy , The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family
- Wage statistics -BLS, by occupation, state, etc
- Pay equity -women’s policy research
- http://www.payscale.com/research
- Institute for Policy Research Northwestern University
- Economic Policy Institute
- Urban institute
- Center for Economic and Policy Research
- W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
- Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
- Social Policy, working poor, education research – MDRC institute
- Monthly Labor Review: www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/mlrhome.htm
- Movie : http://www.zeitgeistmovingforward.com/
- The economic way of looking at life – Becker Nobel lecture 1992
- Fryer R. An Empirical Analysis of ‘Acting White’, JPE
- Leisure activities – how do people spend free time?
- States with highest and lowest marriage odds – nytimes
- The national marriage project at U. of Virginia – hot issues
- Unemployment rate by education level – choose ‘seasonally adjusted unemp ‘, and retrieve data
- US income distribution – paper 2016
- The race card project – write on the wall
- Child marriage in US – numbers, frontline
- Child marriage explained – teen vogue
- Lundberg, The American Family and Family Economics – article
- Goldin, The quiet Revolution that Transformed Women’s Employment, Education and Family, article
- The End of Men – The Atlantic – article
- How trade with China hurt marriage prospects – family studies
- Topic for discussion – the Gardian
- MIT work of the future – report
- The future of work in America – McKinsey
- Sandberg: Why we have so few women leaders? -ted
- Discussion question for analytics and gender: What do you find interesting about these data? Time use in Our World in Numbers