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University of Alberta – Department of Economics – Winter 2020 ECON 431-531 – Labor Economics - Labour Economics I – Marchand
COURSE OUTLINE Websites
https://sites.ualberta.ca/~jmarchan/teaching.htm
Class Hours Instructor Office Hours
Monday and Wednesday Joseph Marchand Monday and Wednesday Tory B 100: 12:30 - 1:50 pm [email protected] Tory 7 29: 2:00 - 2:50 pm
Description
Labor Economics - Labour Economics I (ECON 431-531) at the University of Alberta is a blended course that serves as senior-level undergraduate and graduate level exposure to the market for labor, in order to establish a comprehensive understanding of the field.
This course will explore the fundamental topics of labor economics from a North American perspective, including an introduction to labor economics, labor markets, labor supply, and labor demand, as well as job attributes and schooling, if time permits.
Prerequisites include ECON 281 and MATH 154 (or equivalent). All 400-Level courses are restricted to BA Economics Majors, BA Honors Economics Majors, BSc Math/Econ Majors, and BSc Honors Math/Econ Majors until June 27th. All other students may register after this date. The Department of Economics will include pre and co-requisite checking as part of the course restrictions. Graduate students should contact their program advisor for information about registration in Economics graduate courses.
Resources
There is one required textbook for this course: Labor Economics, Principles in Practice, Second Edition (2019), written by Kenneth McLaughlin under Oxford University Press.
I am currently under contract to write the Canadian edition of this book. For reference, I had previously used Labor Economics, Seventh Edition (2016), written by George Borjas under McGraw-Hill Education. A graduate textbook is also available: Labor Economics, Second Edition (2014), by P. Cahuc, S. Carcillo, and A. Zylberberg under MIT Press. The required book is available at the UofA bookstore; all books are available at UofA library.
Evaluation
All individuals enrolled in this course must complete twelve “answer and evaluate”
(A&E) questions through the Packback questions platform. These questions will mostly relate to identifying Canadian content to replace the given examples from the textbook.
Undergraduates must additionally complete a mid-term exam and a final exam, whereas graduate students must instead complete two presentations and a final exam. Grammarly software is also available to help clean up assignments and presentations. Exams will contain a mix of questions involving calculations, definitions, explanations, and figures.
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Your numerical grade for the course will be calculated using the following weights:
A&E Questions 30% (initial response due by Tues.; follow-ups by Sat.) Mid-Term Exam 30% (on Monday, Feb. 24th, Tory B 100 @ 12:30 pm) (or Presentations) (30%) (on the Wednesdays of Feb. 26th and Apr. 8th) Final Exam 40% (on Friday, Apr. 17th, exam room @ 9:00 am) Your letter grade is then determined based on your absolute and relative performance to the rest of the class, with a historical grade point average of ~ 3.15 out of 4.0 (~ B/B+).
My approach to grading is to read all given answers to a question and then rank them, with the best answer typically receiving full marks and a sliding scale then being used.
Due to the blended aspect of the course, graduate status will also be taken into account.
The Mid-Term Exam will cover the first half material; the Final Exam will cover all of the material. If the Mid-Term Exam is missed, its weight will be reallocated to the Final Exam, with a 10 percent penalty on its grade. The Final Exam may be deferred through your faculty, but approval requires that at least half of your assigned work has already been completed. The Final Exam may have questions specific to graduate students.
The two Presentations that the graduate students will give to the class will help walk the undergrads through the graduate versions of the same concepts that they are studying (such as showing us the calculus behind a model or the statistical code for an estimation), as well as help us understand some US and Canadian academic papers where applicable.
Graduate students will work together with the professor to identify what they will cover.
Policy
“Policy about course outlines can be found in the Evaluation Procedures and Grading System section of the University Calendar.” (If there is a problem, let me know ASAP.)
“The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behavior (online at www.governance.ualberta.ca) and avoid any behavior which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.” (Dean’s office makes decisions.)
“Audio or video recording, digital or otherwise, of lectures, labs, seminars, or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as part of an approved accommodation plan. Student or instructor content, digital or otherwise, created and/or used within the context of the course is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the content author(s).” (Includes picture taking too.
Any perceived recording device should remain stowed away during class or office hours.)
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January
6th Mon (1) Introduction to Labor Economics (A&E #1) 8th Wed (2) Introduction to Labor Economics
13th Mon (3) Introduction to Labor Economics (A&E #2) 15th Wed (4) Introduction to Labor Economics
20th Mon (5) Introduction to Labor Economics (A&E #3) 22nd Wed (6) Labor Markets
27th Mon (7) Labor Markets (A&E #4) 29th Wed (8) Labor Markets
February
3rd Mon (9) Labor Markets (A&E #5) 5th Wed (10) Labor Markets
10th Mon (11) Labor Markets (A&E #6) 12th Wed (12) Labor Markets
17th Mon * No Class (Reading Week) 19th Wed * No Class (Reading Week)
24th Mon (ME) Mid-Term Exam (for undergraduates only)
26th Wed (SP1) Student Presentations (#1, #2, #3) (for graduates only)
March
2nd Mon (13) Labor Supply (A&E #7) 4th Wed (14) Labor Supply
9th Mon (15) Labor Supply (A&E #8) 11th Wed (16) Labor Supply
16th Mon (17) Labor Supply (A&E #9) 18th Wed (18) Labor Supply
23rd Mon (19) Labor Demand (A&E #10) 25th Wed (20) Labor Demand
30th Mon (21) Labor Demand (A&E #11)
April
1st Wed (22) Labor Demand
6th Mon (23) Labor Demand (A&E #12)
8th Wed (SP2) Student Presentations (#1, #2, #3) (for graduates only) 17th Fri (FE) Final Exam (at 9:00 am) (for undergrads and graduates)