Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"

Labor supply (retirement, family), labor demand, labor market equilibrium (minimum
wages, payroll taxes, immigration, wage distribution), education (human capital,
signaling), discrimination (race, gender), pay based on performance (piece-rate, team),
compensating wage differentials, inequality, macroeconomic aspects of the labor market

No single textbook covers all the material presented in this course. A number of the
recommended readings will consist of journal articles. I will also distribute the slides of
each class through the course webpage. The books that will be used more frequently are
the following:
- One suggested text is Borjas, “Labor Economics”, McGraw-Hill, 2010. (previous
and new editions can also be used). The textbook is an undergraduate-level
textbook, so the coverage of the material will be a bit less advanced than what will
be done in class.
- A graduate-level text in labor economics is Cahuc, Carcillo and Zylberberg, “Labor
Economics”, MIT Press, 2004 (new editions can also be used). It has a bit more of a
macro-labor flavor, common among many European labor economists. My
approach is a bit more micro-oriented, but for some chapters it can be a very good
reference.
- Labor economics is a data-intensive field, and many new empirical techniques
have been developed to answer labor economics questions. If you are interested
in research in labor economics, you will need a solid foundation in econometrics.
Angrist and Pischke, “Mostly Harmless Econometrics”, Princeton University Press,
2009.
All readings are available through the Biblioteca Vilfredo Pareto, located in the building B.
Class notes, as well as any other additional material/reading, will be available on the
course web page.

This course is composed of two parts:

Module 1

- labor supply (retirement, family), labor demand, labor market equilibrium

(minimum wages, payroll taxes, immigration, wage distribution).

Module 2

- education (human capital, signaling, school quality), discrimination (race, gender),

probation, pay based on performance (piece-rate, team).

No single textbook covers all the material presented in this course. A number of the

recommended readings will consist of journal articles. We will also distribute the slides of

each class through the course webpage. The books that will be used more frequently are

the following:

- Cahuc and Zylberberg (2004), Labor Economics, MIT Press.

- Borjas (20012), Labor Economics, McGraw-Hill.

All readings are available through the Biblioteca Vilfredo Pareto, located in the building

B. Class notes, as well as any other additional material/reading, will be available on the

course web page.