ECTS : 3
Description du contenu de l'enseignement :
This course will present an overview of topics in Labour and Education. The first part of the course will cover 4 topics related to wage determination and unemployment insurance, which are at the frontier of current research in labour economics. More specifically, we will consider the returns to education, the fundamentals of wage determination, the forms and consequences of labour market discrimination and unemployment insurance. The course will cover both the theoretical and empirical aspects of all topics. It will also systematically discuss the relevant policy implications. The second part of the course will review the reasons for government intervention in Education, and will then cover three main types of interventions: demand side policies (financial and information interventions), supply side policies (school resources) and policies aimed at reducing inequalities (affirmative action).
Provisional schedule
1. Labour I: Returns to education
2. Labour II: Wage determination and minimum wage
3. Labour III: Labour market discrimination
4. Labour IV: Unemployment insurance
5. Education I: demand side policies (financial and information interventions)
6. Education II: supply side policies (school resources)
7. Education III : policies aimed at reducing inequalities (affirmative action)
Compétence à acquérir :
The first objective of the course is to equip the students with the tools that will allow them to understand the contemporary labour market and the relevant public policies. With this aim, it will first provide students with advanced knowledge of the determinants of wages, both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. At the end of the course, the students will be able to identify the mechanisms underlying wage setting within firms and will have a good understanding of the main quantitative methods used by labour economists. They will also be able to contribute to the design of public policies related to labour market discrimination, unemployment insurance, etc.
The second objective of the course is provide students with a critical analysis of government intervention in education. It will present an overview of the main types of education policies, together with in-depth empirical analysis of the impact of specific policies. At the end of the course, the students will be able to identify the market failures and equity issues that concern education, and the type of policies that may be considered to solve them. They will also have a good understanding of the main quantitative methods used by economists to evaluate the impact of educational policies and contribute to the social debate on education.
This class will be useful to students who want to do a PhD dissertation in the field of applied labour economics and education economics as well as to students who plan to work in institutions that produce studies and policy recommendations regarding education and the labour market, such as the OECD, Ministries of Labour, the ILO, etc.
Mode de contrôle des connaissances :
Written and oral assessment
During the course, students will be asked to present an article chosen in the reading list of the course. This presentation will be graded. A final exam will take place during the exam week. The final grade will be computed as a weighted average of the oral presentation (30%) and written exam (65%) grades, as well as a grade to account for participation (5%).
Bibliographie, lectures recommandées :
Tito Boeri and Jan Van Ours, The Economics of Imperfect Labour Markets, 2nd edition, Princeton University Press, 2013.
Articles listed on the reading list provided at the start of the course