Contemporary Labor Economics

Contemporary Labor Economics, 6e presents the new labor economics. In the past, study of labor was highly descriptive, emphasizing historical developments, facts, institutions, and legal considerations. Labor markets and unemployment was accorded some attention, but the analysis was typically minimal. This state of affairs has changed significantly in recent decades. Economists have achieved important breakthroughs in studying labor markets and problems. Labor economics is increasingly an applied field of micro and macro theory and has become a critical part of the core of analytical economics. As a result, the focus of the text is on the ?new? labor economics. However, it also presents traditional topics such as labor law, structure of unions, and collective bargaining since these issues also play an important role in labor markets.


Key features


New Chapter on Labor Market Discrimination: We have updated, streamlined, and reorganized the material on labor market discrimination in chapters 14 and 15 to form the core of chapter 14 in the new edition. The theoretical material is now combined with the discussion of the empirical findings about discrimination for clarity and relevance.
Public Policy Issues Discussion Added: This edition includes a number of new discussions of public policy issues including welfare reform, the minimum wage, labor standards and trade liberalization, the causes of growing wage inequality, immigration policy, product market deregulation, and wage discrimination. This addition will make the book more current and relevant for students.
New Economy Discussion Added: Chapter 17 has been updated to include a discussion of the new economy perspective and the recent revival of labor productivity growth. The new economy has significant ramifications for many fields, not the least of which is labor economics, and this added material will help prepare students better for the challenges that will face them.
New World of Work Sections: World of Work boxes are found in every chapter. These boxes cover summaries of current research or a synopsis of an article on labor economics. 18 of these boxes are new to this edition. This boxed material is of great interest and relevance to the students because it relates the theory to real world data and events.
Greater Use of Line Graphs: To make the main points regarding data more accessible, this edition makes greater use of line graphs rather than tables.
Internet Exercises: Each chapter now has one or two Internet exercises. These exercises provide an opportunity for students to increase their understanding of the material as well as obtain the most current data available. They also help train students to use the World Wide Web to conduct research.
Global Perspective Boxes integrated into almost every chapter compare the features of the American labor market to other countries.
Emphasis on allocative efficiency. This emphasis makes students realize that society has an interest in how labor markets function. Chapter 7 brings together the literature on the principal-agent problem and the new economics of personnel in a single chapter. Chapter 8, the wage structure, with its thorough treatment of wage differentials and the chapters on governments impact on labor markets (12 and 13) also distinguish this text.
Logical Organization: Stress is placed on logical organization of subject matter both from chapter-to-chapter (micro to macro, simple theory to real-world complications, analysis to policy) and within each chapter (liberal use of subheads, clear and direct writing style).
Extensive pedagogy: chapter opening paragraphs state goals and tie material to prior or future chapters. Each chapter has summaries, key terms and concepts, open end and numerical problems, lists of basic references, Quick Review summaries and Your Turn questions, two-three short World of Work mini-readings, comprehensive glossary at the end of the text.
Web site: http://www.contemporarylabor.com. The website contains several resources for teacher and student, including: Product updates, Data sets, Bulletin board, Self scoring practice quizzes, Downloadable Instructor's Manual and PowerPoints, Labor Economics Links, Copy request, and a section about the authors.


Table of contents


1 Labor Economics Introduction and Overview
2 The Theory of Individual Labor Supply
3 Population, Participation Rates, and Hours of Work
4 Labor Quality: Investing in Human Capital
5 The Demand for Labor
6 Wage Determination and the Allocation of Labor
7 Alternative Pay Schemes and Labor Efficiency
8 The Wage Structure
9 Mobility, Migration, and Efficiency
10 Labor Unions and Collective Bargaining
11 The Economic Impact of Unions
12 Government and the Labor Market: Employment, Expenditures, and Taxation
13 Government and the Labor Market: Legislation and Regulation?
14 Labor Market Discrimination
15 Job Search: External and Internal
16 The Distribution of Personal Earnings
17 Labor Productivity: Wages, Prices, and Unemployment
18 Employment and Unemployment