14.661A
Labor Economics I
Covers the same material as 14.661 but in greater depth. Additional assignments required. Limited to economics PhD students who wish to declare a major field in labor economics.
Fall 2024
This course provides a systematic development of the theory of labor supply, labor demand, and human capital. Topics include wage and employment determination, turnover, search, immigration, unemployment, equalizing differences, and institutions in the labor market. Particular emphasis is placed on the interaction between theoretical and empirical modeling.
Readings
- G. Borjas, Labor Economics, 8 th edition. McGraw-Hill, 2020.
- J. Rothstein. “Unemployment and Job Search in the Great Recession.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 43 (Fall 2011), 143–213.
- C. Goldin and L. F. Katz. The Race Between Education and Technology . Harvard University Press, 2010.
- A. Deaton and J. Muellbauer. Economics and Consumer Behavior. Cambridge University Press, 1980, especially chapter 4.
- ‘Metrics: MHE Chapter 4; MM Chapter 3 (Instrumental variables).
- G. S. Becker. A Treatise on the Family. Harvard University Press, 1981.
- ‘Metrics: MHE Sections 4.1 and 5.1; MM Chapter 3 (IV and grouped data)
- G. Becker and G. Ghez. The Allocation of Time and Goods Over the Life-Cycle. Columbia University Press, 1975.
- ‘Metrics: MHE Chapter 5; MM Chapter 5 (Diffs-in-diffs).
- A. Manning. Monopsony in Motion: Imperfect Competition in Labor Markets. Princeton University Press, 2003.
- J. Mincer. Schooling, Experience, and Earnings. NBER, 1974.
- G. Becker. Human Capital , 3 rd edition. University of Chicago Press, 1993.
- ‘Metrics: MM Chapter 6; AK99 Section 2.
- ‘Metrics: MHE Chapter 6; MM Chapter 4 (Regression Discontinuity Designs).
- H. Gregg Lewis. Union Relative Wage Effects: A Survey. University of Chicago Press, 1986.
Prerequisites & course information
Subject meets with 14.661 Prereq: 14.32 and ( 14.03 or 14.04 ) G (Fall) 5-0-7 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2024
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW schedule ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.