Labor Economics and Industrial Relations

This is a complete listing of all economics courses. Not all courses are offered each year.
Click here for a list of currenly offered courses.

14.661 Labor Economics I
Prereq: 14.04 or 14.31
Neoclassical analysis of the labor market and its institutions. A systematic development of the theory of labor supply, labor demand, and human capital theory. Topics discussed also include theories of wage and employment determination, turnover, search, unemployment, equalizing differences, and union behavior. Particular emphasis on the interaction of theoretical and empirical modeling.

14.662 Labor Economics II
Prereq: 14.64 or 15.660
The development and evolution of labor market structures and institutions. Particular focus on competing explanations of recent developments in the distribution of wage and salary income and in key institutions and organizational structures. Special attention to theories of worker motivation and behavior, the determination of wages, technology, and social stratification.

14.663 Advanced Topics in Labor Economics
Prereq: 14.661
Introduction to current research in labor economics, focusing on a specific set of issues that varies from year to year.

14.665J Labor Market Regulation and Career Mobility
(Same subject as 17.314J)
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Examines the way in which workers organize to structure and regulate the labor market and how those efforts interact with (as cause and effect) career mobility. Particular focus on the contrast between union organization and government regulation and on the shift from mobilization around class to mobilization around race, sex and ethnicity. Contrast between unified systems of regulation (France, Spain, Latin America) and fragmented systems (United States).