Teaching

Economics 606

The Research Methods course is designed to lay the foundations that prepare students for research in economics or for work as a professional economist. Research tasks include researching material, evaluating information and writing reports or brief notes on a topic, compiling a critical literature review, and designing an academic research project. You will also gain experience in presenting research work to an audience. The class will be divided in groups and each group assigned a topic. You will develop your research skills within your area of expertise and enrich your set of skills (and that of your classmates) by providing and receiving feedback across groups.

Economics 651

Labour economics looks at the suppliers of labour services (workers), the demands of labour services (employers), and attempts to understand the resulting pattern of wages, employment, and income. Why not, then study labour markets within microeconomic theory? Several features make labour a singular factor that deserves the development of its own field of study. First is the fact that labour services are provided by individuals and that wage income represents about 2/3 of total income in the industrialized world. This implies far reaching welfare consequences from the provision of labour services that are not present in the provision of other factors of production. Understanding the workings of the labour market thus sheds light on many economic and social problems including the organization of the household, discrimination, inequality and social exclusion. This course will explore the main aspects of the field of labour economics, including labour supply and demand, theories of human capital, wage formation, wage inequalities and policies on employment. An important part of the course will focus on the empirical research methodology.