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Economics 7365 Dr. Juhn Labor Economics I Fall 2013 T/Th 10:00-11:30 Labor Economics I Course Description: This Course Is the First Course in Labor Economics

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Economics 7365 Dr. Juhn Labor Economics I Fall 2013 T/Th 10:00-11:30 Labor Economics I Course Description: This Course Is the First Course in Labor Economics Economics 7365 Dr. Juhn Labor Economics I Fall 2013 T/Th 10:00-11:30 Labor Economics I Course Description: This course is the first course in labor economics. The major topics covered are: labor supply, taxes, labor demand, minimum wages, immigration, Roy model, equalizing differences, wage structure and inequality. Human capital will be covered in Economics of Education next fall. Course Requirements: The requirements are one exam (40%), paper proposal (40%), referee report (10%) and class participation (10%). The syllabus contains two types of readings. Readings marked with an asterisk (*) will be emphasized in lectures. Readings marked with (+) will be used for in-class discussions. Students are expected to read and be familiar with both types of readings. Many of the readings are available through JSTOR. Those that are not will be made available. Many of the readings are in the Handbook of Labor Economics (vol. 1&2), O. Ashenfelter and R. Layard eds., 1986 and three volumes, (vol 3A-3C), O. Ashenfelter and D. Card, eds., 1999, and 2 new volumes, O.Ashenfelter and D. Card, eds. 2010. I was able to access the later handbooks from the following UH library link. http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.lib.uh.edu/lib/uhmain/docDetail.action?docID=10178513 I will have the hard to find readings available in the file drawers outside my office—201A. An undergraduate text Labor Economics by George Borjas, and graduate labor text book, Labor Economics, by Pierre Cahuc and Andre Zylberberg, may also prove useful. In addition, I will be referring to methods used in empirical papers which are covered in depth in the following papers and books. Angrist, Joshua and Krueger, Alan. “Empirical Strategies in Labor Economics.” In Handbook of Labor Economics. Orley Ashenfelter and David Card, eds. North Holland, 1999, Volume 3A. Angrist, Joshua and Jorn-Steffen Pischke. Mostly Harmless Econometrics. Princeton University Press, 2009. DiNardo, John and David S. Lee. “Program Evaluation and Research Designs.” NBER WP 16016, forthcoming Handbook of Labor Economics, David Card, eds. North-Holland, 2010. Volume 4A. Lee, David and Thomas Lemieux, “Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics.” Journal of Economic Literature. June 2010. (1) Exam- scheduled for November 21, 2013. The exam will be in-class and will test your knowledge of the materials covered in class lectures and highlighted readings. I will be out of town on October 3 and November 14 and there will be no class on these dates. (2) Paper Proposal – The goal is to develop the beginnings of an empirical project by the end of the course. The proposal should be approximately 8-10 pages and should include a literature review and proposed research project including the main hypothesis, description of the data that will be used, and the empirical strategy. Students should schedule appointments with me to discuss their ideas starting the week of September 30th. The proposal will be due on the last day of class, December 5, 2013. More explicit guidelines will be provided. (3) Referee Report - Students are expected to attend the empirical micro seminars held on Tuesdays. One or two student will be assigned to each workshop paper to referee. The referee report should be 2-3 pages and will be handed in to be graded. More explicit direction of what is expected and sample referee reports will be provided. (4) Class Participation – The readings marked with (+) will be used for class-room discussions. Students are expected to read the papers ahead of time and be prepared to be active participants in class. Updated August 27, 2013 I. Labor Supply 1.Theory and Background * Blundell, Richard and Thomas MaCurdy. “A Review of Alternative Approaches.” In Handbook of Labor Economics, Orley Ashenfelter and David Card, eds. North-Holland, 1999. Volume 3A. Pencavel, John. “Labor Supply of Men: A Survey.” In Handbook of Labor Economics. Orley Ashenfelter and Richard Layard, eds. North-Holland, 1986. Volume 1. Keane, Michael. “Labor Supply and Taxes: A Survey.” Journal of Economic Literature. December 2011. 2. Empirical Estimates of Male and Female Labor Supply Elasticity * Juhn, Chinhui. “The Decline of Male Labor Market Participation: The Role of Market Opportunities.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. February 1992 + Moffitt, Robert. “The Reversal of the Employment-Population Ratio in the 2000s: Facts and Explanations.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Fall 2012. .Angrist, Joshua. “Grouped-Data Estimation and Testing in Simple Labor Supply Models.” Journal of Econometrics. February, 1991. Blau, Francine and Lawrence Kahn. “Changes in the Labor Supply Behavior of Married Women: 1980-2000.” Journal of Labor Economics. July 2007. Eissa, Nada. “Taxation and Labor Supply of Married Women: The Tax Reform Act of 1986 as a Natural Experiment.” NBER Working Paper No. 5023. Heim, Bradley. “The Incredible Shrinking Elasticities: Married Female Labor Supply, 1978–2002.” Journal of Human Resources. Fall 2007. MaCurdy, Thomas. “An Empirical Model of Labor Supply in a Life Cycle Setting.” Journal of Political Economy. December 1981. Heckman, James J. “Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error.” Econometrica. January 1979. Mroz, Thomas. “The Sensitivity of an Empirical Model of Married Women's Hours of Work to Economic and Statistical Assumptions.” Econometrica. July 1987. Pencavel, John. “The Market Work Behavior and Wages of Women: 1975-1994.” Journal of Human Resources. Fall 1998. Welch, F. “Wage and Participation.” Journal of Labor Economics. January, 1997. 3. Disability Insurance and Male Labor Supply Elasticity * Autor, D. and M. Duggan. “The Rise in Disability Roles and Declines in Unemployment.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2003. * Bound, John and Timothy Waidmann. “Disability Transfers, Self-Reported Health, and the Labor Force Attachment of Older Men: Evidence from the Historical Record.” Quarterly Journal of Updated August 27, 2013 Economics. November 1992. * Maestas, Nicole, Kathleen Mullen and Alexander Strand. “Does Disability Insurance Receipt Discourage Work? Using Examiner Assignment to Estimate Causal Effects of SSDI Receipt.” American Economic Review, forthcoming Gruber, J. “Disability Insurance Benefits and Labor Supply.” Journal of Political Economy, December 2000. Von Wachter, Till, Manchester, Joyce, and Jae Song. “Trends in Employment and Earnings of Allowed and Rejected Applicants to the Social Security Disability Insurance Program.” American Economic Review, forthcoming. 4. EITC and Food Stamps * Eissa, Nada and Jeff Liebman. “Labor Supply Response to the Earned Income Tax Credit.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1996. Hoynes, Hilary and Diane Schanzenback. “Work Incentives and the Food Stamp Program.” Journal of Public Economics. February 2012. Meyer, B. and D. Rosenbaum. “Welfare, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Labor Supply of Single Mothers.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 2001. 5. Taxes and Labor Supply * Saez, Emmanuel, Slemrod, Joel and Seth Giertz. “The Elasticity of Taxable Income with Respect to Marginal Tax Rates: A Critical Review.” Journal of Economic Literature. March 2012. Gruber, Jon, and Emmanuel Saez. “The Elasticity of Taxable Income: Evidence and Implications.” Journal of Public Economics, 2002. Moffitt, Robert. “The Econometrics of Kinked Budget Constraints.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1990. Saez, Emmanuel. “Do Taxpayers Bunch at Kink Points?” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. August 2010. Romer, Christina, and David Romer. “The Incentive Effects of Marginal Tax Rates: Evidence from the Interwar Era.” Berkeley Working Paper. June 2013. 6. Health Insurance and Labor Supply * Madrian, Brigitte. “Employment-Based Health Insurance and Job Mobility: Is There Evidence of Job-Lock?” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1994. Blau, David and Donna Gilleskie. “Retiree Health Insurance and the Labor Force Behavior of Older Men in the 1990s.” Review of Economics and Statistics. February 2001. Blau, David and Donna Gilleskie. “The Role of Retiree Health Insurance in Employment Behavior of Older Men.” International Economic Review. May 2008. French, Eric and John Bailey Jones. “The Effects of Health Insurance and Self-Insurance on Retirement Behavior.” Econometrica. May 2011 Updated August 27, 2013 Garthwaite, Craig, Gross, Tal, and Matthew Notowidigdo. “Public Health Insurance, Labor Supply, and Employment Lock.” University of Chicago Working Paper. July, 2013 Gruber, Jon and Brigitte Madrian. “Health Insurance Availability and the Retirement Decision.” American Economic Review. September 1995. Gruber, Jon and Brigitte Madrian. “Health Insurance and Early Retirement: Evidence from the Availability of Continuation Coverage.” In David Wise, ed. Advances in the Economics of Aging. University of Chicago Press, 1996. II. Labor Demand 1. Background * Hamermesh, Daniel. “The Demand for Labor in the Long Run.” In Handbook of Labor Economics. Orley Ashenfelter and Richard Layard, eds. North Holland, 1986. Volume 1. Cahuc, P. and A. Zylberberg. Labor Economics, 2004, chapter 4. Grant, James and Daniel Hamermesh. "Labor Market Competition Among Youths, White Women and Others." Review of Economics and Statistics. August 1981. Juhn, Chinhui and Dae Il Kim. "The Effects of Rising Female Labor Supply on Male Wages." Journal of Labor Economics. January 1999. Hamermesh, Dan and Steve Trejo. “The Demand for Hours: Direct Evidence from California,” Review of Economics and Statistics. February, 2000. 2. Application: Minimum Wages * Card, David
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