ECON 4715: LABOUR ECONOMICS

Lecture 1

What is Labour Economics?

Labour economics is the study of markets in which labour services are

exchanged for wages.

In market terminology:
The good is labour
The price is wages

Why is it important?
i) For most people labour income represents the largest share of
total income
ii) Knowledge on how labour market resources are used efficiently
is important to increase the production capacity.
iii) The distribution of wages is important for understanding the
distribution of income in the society.
iv) Labour is the most important component of the national wealth.

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More generally:
Labour economics covers a large field. Sheds light on economic and
social problems. It covers topics related to wages, employment,
unemployment, number of hours worked, hiring and firing,
employers demand for workers, individuals incentive to
participate in the labour market, the impact of unions, mm

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Course content
The course will introduce students to recent theories and methods for
the analysis of labour markets. The course emphasizes relationships
between macro phenomena such as unemployment and wage and
productivity distributions, and rational behaviour of agents in the
labour market, focussing on informational problems arising in labour
market interactions as well as on the role of unions and employers
associations. Important themes are theories of efficiency wages,
search, matching and wage formation, theories of labour contracts and
union behaviour, human capital theory, labour heterogeneity, and
effects of mobility costs. Students should acquire a firm knowledge of
basic mechanisms of the labour market, in particular how
unemployment and wage and productivity differences can arise as
equilibrium phenomena. A main aim of the course is to present the
building blocks for studying the relationship between the micro and
the macro sides of the economy.

Skills:
The students should learn to use analytical models of behaviour and
interactions in the labour market as tools to analyse the mechanisms
that determine outcomes in the labour market, the performance of
labour markets, and to analyse policy questions related to labour
markets. The students should also become familiar with key elements
of empirical work that aims at evaluating and quantify the
mechanisms of the models.

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Recommended prior knowledge

Mathematics requirements equivalent to requirements for first-year

master students. Basic undergraduate micro and macroeconomics.
The course develops basic issues and notions from both micro and
macro economics.
Important micro building blocks are the theory of the firm,
information economics, welfare economics, and the theory of
consumer behaviour.
Among important macro building blocks are the analytical
foundations for the Phillips curve, and the idea of rational
expectations. It is desirable to have some background in mathematics
beyond the elementary level.

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Reading list

Cahuc, P. and A. Zylberberg: Labor Economics, 2004. The MIT Press,

Cambridge Mass. Chapters 1 (1.1+1.2), 3, 4.1-4.3, 6, 7.1-7.4, 9.1-
9.4 10.1 and 12.
Flangan, R., K.O. Moene and M. Wallerstein: Trade Union Behavior,
Pay Bargaining and Economic Performance, 1993. Oxford:
Clarendon Press. Part II: "Bargaining Structure and Economic
Performance". K.
Bhaskar, V., A. Manning and T. To: Oligopsony and Monopsonistic
Competition in Labor Markets, 2002. in Journal of Economic
Perspectives 16, pp. 155 - 174.
Moene, K.O, and M. Wallerstein: Solidaristic Wage Bargaining,
Nordic Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 22 1995 (pp. 79-94). K.

Supplementary reading list:

Mortensen, D: Wage Dispersion: Why are Similar People Paid

Differently, 2003. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Weiss, A: Efficiency Wages, 1991. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Ch. 1-2,
4-7.

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LECTURE PLAN: ECON 4715 LABOUR ECONOMICS
Time and Place:
Thursday 08:15 -10:00, Auditorium 6 Eilert Sundts hus (First lecture:
August 20 - Last lecture: Nov. 19)
No lectures in week 35
Language:
English
Lecturer:
Harald Dale-Olsen and Pl Schne
E-mail: [email protected] , [email protected]

Tentative lecture plan:

The following topics will be covered in the lectures. The week numbers
given in parenthesis for each topic are tentative. The reading list is a
suggestion from the lecturer and may cover parts of the reading list for the
course, only.

1. Introduction (week 34)

Why labour economics?
Survey of the course and remarks on the reading list.

2. Labour supply (week 36)

The choice between consumption and leisure
Labour supply with household production.
C&Z chapter 1: 1.1-1.2

3. Labour demand (week 37)

Labour demand in the short run
Long run demand

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The elasticity of substitutiona
Monopsony
C&Z chapter 4: 1.1-1.4, 2.1, 2.2
Bhaskar Manning and To

4. Unions and Collective Bargaining (week 38)

Unions, Collective bargaining
The right to manage model
Equilibrium unemployment
Wage distribution
C&Z chapter 7: 1-4
5. Job Search Theory (week 39)
The basic search model
The asset equation
On the job-search
C&Z chapter 3:1.1, 3.1.2,

6. Equilibrium Search Model (week 40)

Wage setting and the Diamonds critique
Labour Market Equilibrium
Endogenous Wage Distribution
C&Z chapter 3:2.1

7. Contracts, risk sharing and incentives (week 41)

Risk Sharing
Incentives in the presence of verifiable results
Pay for performance
C&Z chapter 6:1-3

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8. Efficiency wages (week 42)
Incentives in the absence of verifiable results
Equilibrium unemployment
Wage Distribution
C&Z chapter 6:4.2, 6.4.4

9, 10. The Matching Model (week 43 & 44)

Transaction costs and frictions
The Beveridge curve
Labour market equilibrium
C&Z chapter 9:3

11. Coordination in bargaining (week 45)

Bargaining institutions
Coordination in bargaining
C&Z chapter 12:4
Moene and Wallerstein

12. Some policy issues (week 46)

Minimum wage
Employment protection, Institutions and performance
C&Z chapter 12: 1, 2, 4 , 5

13. Repetition, summing up (week 47)

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1. Labour supply

The neoclassical theory of labour supply

Choice between consuming more goods and consuming more leisure

The basic model

The utility function:

U (C , L) U C (C , L) 0 U L (C , L)

L0: total amount of time

The length of time worked: h = L0 L

L
The set of pairs (C,L) by which the individual obtains the same utility
level, is the indifference curve.

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i) Each indifference curve corresponds to a higher level of utility
ii) Indifference curves do not intersect
iii) The slope measure the marginal rate of substitution between
consumption and leisure
iv) The indifference curve is convex

Choices
wh: Income from wages
R: Non labour income

The budget set of the agent

C wh R

We have that: h = L0 L

Then we have the budget constraint:

C wL R0 wL0 R

The decision of the consumer:

MaxU (C , L) subject to C wL R0

The interior solution:

The lagrarian of this program:

L(C , l , ) U (C , L) ( R0 C wL )

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The FOC:

L
(1) U C (C , L) 0
C
L
( 2) UL(C , L) w 0
L
L
(3) R0 C wL

U L (C , L)
(4) w
U C (C , L)

A graphic representation of this solution:

L
The optimal solution is situated at a tangency point between the
budget line (with slope w) and the indifference curve.

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The reservation wage
For (4) to be describe the optimal solution, point E has to lie to the left
of A. Otherwise labour supply is null.

Since the marginal rate of substitution represents the slope of the

tangent of the indifference curve, A person offers positive quantity of
hours if and only if:

U L (C , L)
w
U C (C , L) A

The marginal rate of substitution at point A is called the reservation

wage. It is given by:
U L ( R, L0)
wA
U C ( R, L0)

The reservation wage depends only on the form of U at point A, and

the value of R. It determines the condition of participation in the
labour market. If w falls below, no labour is supplied.
An increase in R increases the reservation wage, and therefore
have a disincentive on entry into the labour market.

Substitution and income effects

i) An increase in non-labour income:

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The labour supply function:
h L0 L
L0 f 2 ( w, R wL0 )

h f 2

R R

If leisure is a normal good; an increase in R reduces number of hours

worked
Graphically
C

BB

AB

ii) An increase in wages

h L0 L
L0 f 2 ( w, R wL0 )

h f 2 f
L0 2
w w R0

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By putting in from the Slutsky equation, we have:

z h 2 f 2 f
( L ) L0 2
w w R0 R0
h 2 f 2
( L0 L) )
w R0

Substitution effect Income effects

The substitution effect tells that the individual will move away from
the good that has increased its price, that is leisure ==> more work

The income effect tells us that since the income has increased for a
given number of working hours and assuming that leisure is a
normal good the individual will demand more leisure.

Graphically
C

CB

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A to B: Substitution effect
B to C: Income effect

Some empirical studies of labour supply

The elasticity of the labour supply of married women

Authors Sample Uncompensated Income elasticity
wage wage
elsticity
Hausman (1981)) US 0.99 -0.12
Blundell (1988) UK 0.09 -0.2
Arellano and UK 0.29 -0.6
Meghir (1992)
Triest (1990) UK 0.97 -0.4
The elasticity of the labour supply of married men
Authors Sample Uncompensated Income elasticity
wage wage

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 elsticity
Hausman (1981) US 0.03 -1.0
Blomquist (1983) Sweden 0.08 -0.03
Blundell and UK 0.02 -0.28
Walker (1986)
Triest (1990) US 0.05 0

A NORWEGIAN FAMILY POLICY REFORM

The Cash-for-Care Reform (kontantsttten)

Eligibility rules:
Tax free monthly subsidy for children aged 1-2 years, given that they
do not attend a kindergarten
Increases the relative price of external child care, and reduces
the relative price of own care
From economic theory: It Should reduce labour supply

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Labour supply before and after the CFC-reform. For working mothers using formal child

care

L
B0

B2
L1

L0

B1

C0 C1 C

What does analyses tell us: The CFC reform has reduced labour
supply of mothers.

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