Labour Economics

Code:

2ME11

Acronym:

LE

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Economics

Instance: 2022/2023 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Economics

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
ME	23	Official Syllabus after 2021-2022	1	-	6	42	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The aim of the course is to acquaint students with major topics in Labor Economics and provide them with theoretical and empirical tools that allow them to analyze the functioning of contemporaneous labor markets. Using an approach based on applied microeconomic theory with an emphasis on the issues of wage formation and labor market policies, the course aims to combine theoretical modeling with empirical modeling and to expand students' knowledge to the role of institutions and public policies specifically designed to the labor market.

Learning outcomes and competences

By the end of the course, students are expected to understand how real contemporary labor markets work and the theoretical and empirical tools economists use to explain real labor markets phenomena.
In particular, it is expected that, in terms of technical skills, students approved for this UC:

• Master the economic concepts necessary to understand the functioning of contemporaneous labor markets;


• Master appropriate empirical methodologies for empirical research and, in particular, for analysis and decision making in the context of issues associated with the functioning of the labor market.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

This course favors tools of microeconomic and microeconometric analysis, assuming that students have knowledge of Economic Theory taught in several undergraduate courses (Microeconomics and Macroeconomics) and Econometrics at an introductory level.

Program

1. Labor supply and labor demand
1.1 Labor supply
1.1.1 The decision to work
1.1.2 Participation rates: some evidence
1.2 Labor demand
1.2.1 Competitive and non-competitive markets
1.2.2 Employment and worker flows: some evidence
2. Education and on-the-job training
2.1. Stylized facts
2.2. The theory of human capital
2.3. The theory of signaling
2.4. Job training
2.5. Evaluating the returns to education
3. Discrimination
3.1. Some facts
3.2. Theories of discrimination
3.3. Measuring wage discrimination
4. Technological Progress, Job Polarization and Wage Inequality
4.1 Facts on occupations, employment and wages
4.2 Technological changes and job polarization: theoretical framework
4.3 Empirical evidence
5. Collective Bargaining and Labor Unions
5.1. Facts about unions and collective bargaining
5.2. Bargaining theory
5.3. Unions effects: some empirical evidence
5.4. The Portuguese wage bargaining system
6. Job Search
6.1. Portuguese unemployment
6.2. Activities of job search
6.3. Basic job search theory
6.4. Empirical evidence: Unemployment benefits and job search
7. Active Labor Market Policies
7.1. What are labor market policies?
7.2. Evaluating labor market policies
7.3. Evidence from Portugal

Mandatory literature

Pierre Cahuc, Stéphane Carcillo, André Zylberberg; Labor Economics, MIT Press, 2014
Boeri, Tito; The economics of imperfect labor markets. ISBN: 978-0-691-13735-3

Teaching methods and learning activities

Classroom training and computer lab sessions.
In addition to the classes, the preparation of the students should appeal to the textbooks recommended in the bibliography.

 

Software

Stata

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	20,00
Teste	80,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	120,00
Frequência das aulas	42,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

All students enrolled in the course are eligible for the final exam.

Calculation formula of final grade

Distributed evaluation without final exam (requires 75% of class attendance):

Final classification = 0.4*A + 0.4*B + 0.2*C
A: classification 1st test
B: classification 2nd test
C: Participation in classes

Students who obtain a final classification equal to or greater than 9.5 values ​​and who have not obtained a classification lower than 6.5 values (out of 20) ​​in the tests are approved.

For working students the final grade is computed as follows:

Final classification = 0.5*A + 0.5*B 

Assessment by final exam: final exam classification.

Students who obtain a final classification equal to or higher than 9.5 in the final exam are approved.

Classification improvement

Reseat.