For one-semester courses in labor economics at the undergraduate and graduate levels
An overview of labor market behavior that emphasizes how theory drives public policy
Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy, Twelfth Edition gives students a thorough overview of the modern theory of labor market behavior, and reveals how this theory is used to analyze public policy. Designed for students who may not have extensive backgrounds in economics, the text balances theoretical coverage with examples of practical applications that allow students to see concepts in action.
Experienced educators for nearly four decades, co-authors Ronald Ehrenberg and Robert Smith believe that showing students the social implications of the concepts discussed in the course will enhance their motivation to learn. As such, the text presents numerous examples of policy decisions that have been affected by the ever-shifting labor market.
This text provides a better teaching and learning experience—for you and your students. It will help you to:
• Demonstrate concepts through relevant, contemporary examples: Concepts are brought to life through analysis of hot-button issues such as immigration and return on investment in education.
• Address the Great Recession of 2008: Coverage of the current economic climate helps students place course material in a relevant context.
• Help students understand scientific methodology: The text introduces basic methodological techniques and problems, which are essential to understanding the field.
• Provide tools for review and further study: A series of helpful in-text features highlights important concepts and helps students review what they’ve learned.
Features + Benefits
Demonstrate concepts through relevant, contemporary examples
Boxed Examples in each chapter illustrate the applicability of economic concepts to the understanding of both daily life and historical development—helping students to see the relevance of course material.
NEW! Eight new Boxed Examples in the Twelfth Edition address engaging topics such as the “Big Mac” real-wage index, how housing subsidies affect labor supply, the effects of linguistics on personal discount rates, and the effects of race on called strikes in baseball.
NEW! The Twelfth Edition has been thoroughly updated to include the latest descriptive data pertaining to the labor market and the latest references to professional literature. These updates ensure that students receive the most up-to-date information possible.
NEW! An expanded treatment of the labor-market effects of immigration in Chapter 10 ties into the growing debate on unauthorized immigration, one of today’s hot-button issues. The chapter now includes analysis of the elasticity of the labor demand curve and the economic effects of low-skilled immigration on higher-skilled workers.
NEW! An enhanced discussion of human capital investments in Chapter 9 offers a more detailed analysis of how “behavioral skills,” psychic costs of learning, and personal discount rates affect the returns to education. These issues are highly relevant to students as they look ahead to their future careers.
Address the Great Recession of 2008
Discussions on the labor-market effects of the Great Recession of 2008 in several chapters help students place labor economics concepts in a relevant, contemporary context.
NEW! Fresh coverage in the Twelfth Edition analyzes the effects of the Great Recession of 2008 upon a number of key topics:
• Retirement ages (Chapter 7)
• Immigration (Chapter 10)
• International differences in unemployment (Chapter 14)
• Earnings inequality (Chapter 15)
NEW! A newly created section in chapter 3 analyzes the efficacy of cutting payroll taxes as a means of stimulating employment during a recession.
Help students understand scientific methodology
A brief overview of regression analysis in the appendix to Chapter 1 brings students up to speed on this key scientific technique.
Each chapter ends with an empirical study—relevant to that chapter’s content—that introduces students to different methodological issues faced by economists doing applied research. These studies enlighten students about, foster student interest in, the challenges of empirical research.
Provide tools for review and further study
A series of helpful in-text features highlights important concepts and helps students review what they’ve learned:
• A number of discussion or review questions in each chapter allow students to apply what they have learned to specific policy issues. To enhance student mastery, we provide answers to the odd-numbered questions at the back of the book.
• Lists of selected readings at the ends of chapters refer students to more advanced sources of study.
• The text’s footnotes have been updated to cite the most recent literature on each given topic. They offer a reference for students and professors who may want to delve more deeply into a given topic.
1. Introduction
2. Overview of the Labor Market
3. The Demand for Labor
4. Labor Demand Elasticities
5. Frictions in the Labor Market
6. Supply of Labor to the Economy: The Decision to Work
7. Labor Supply: Household Production, the Family, and the Life Cycle
8. Compensating Wage Differentials and Labor Markets
9. Investments in Human Capital: Education and Training
10. Worker Mobility: Migration, Immigration, and Turnover
11. Pay and Productivity: Wage Determination Within the Firm
12. Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Labor Market
13. Unions and the Labor Market
14. Unemployment
15. Inequality in Earnings
16. The Labor-Market Effects of International Trade and Production Sharing
For one-semester courses in labor economics at the undergraduate and graduate levels An overview of labor market behavior that emphasizes how theory drives public policy Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy, Twelfth Edition gives students a thorough overview of the modern theory of labor market behavior, and reveals how this theory is used to analyze public policy. Designed for students who may not have extensive backgrounds in economics, the text balances theoretical coverage with examples of practical applications that allow students to see concepts in action. Experienced educators for nearly four decades, co-authors Ronald Ehrenberg and Robert Smith believe that showing students the social implications of the concepts discussed in the course will enhance their motivation to learn.
As such, the text presents numerous examples of policy decisions that have been affected by the ever-shifting labor market. This text provides a better teaching and learning experience-for you and your students. It will help you to:
Demonstrate concepts through relevant, contemporary examples: Concepts are brought to life through analysis of hot-button issues such as immigration and return on investment in education.
Address the Great Recession of 2008: Coverage of the current economic climate helps students place course material in a relevant context.
Help students understand scientific methodology: The text introduces basic methodological techniques and problems, which are essential to understanding the field.
Provide tools for review and further study: A series of helpful in-text features highlights important concepts and helps students review what they've learned.
An overview of labor market behavior that emphasizes how theory drives public policy
Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy, Twelfth Edition gives students a thorough overview of the modern theory of labor market behavior, and reveals how this theory is used to analyze public policy. Designed for students who may not have extensive backgrounds in economics, the text balances theoretical coverage with examples of practical applications that allow students to see concepts in action.
Experienced educators for nearly four decades, co-authors Ronald Ehrenberg and Robert Smith believe that showing students the social implications of the concepts discussed in the course will enhance their motivation to learn. As such, the text presents numerous examples of policy decisions that have been affected by the ever-shifting labor market.
This text provides a better teaching and learning experience—for you and your students. It will help you to:
• Demonstrate concepts through relevant, contemporary examples: Concepts are brought to life through analysis of hot-button issues such as immigration and return on investment in education.
• Address the Great Recession of 2008: Coverage of the current economic climate helps students place course material in a relevant context.
• Help students understand scientific methodology: The text introduces basic methodological techniques and problems, which are essential to understanding the field.
• Provide tools for review and further study: A series of helpful in-text features highlights important concepts and helps students review what they’ve learned.
Features + Benefits
Demonstrate concepts through relevant, contemporary examples
Boxed Examples in each chapter illustrate the applicability of economic concepts to the understanding of both daily life and historical development—helping students to see the relevance of course material.
NEW! Eight new Boxed Examples in the Twelfth Edition address engaging topics such as the “Big Mac” real-wage index, how housing subsidies affect labor supply, the effects of linguistics on personal discount rates, and the effects of race on called strikes in baseball.
NEW! The Twelfth Edition has been thoroughly updated to include the latest descriptive data pertaining to the labor market and the latest references to professional literature. These updates ensure that students receive the most up-to-date information possible.
NEW! An expanded treatment of the labor-market effects of immigration in Chapter 10 ties into the growing debate on unauthorized immigration, one of today’s hot-button issues. The chapter now includes analysis of the elasticity of the labor demand curve and the economic effects of low-skilled immigration on higher-skilled workers.
NEW! An enhanced discussion of human capital investments in Chapter 9 offers a more detailed analysis of how “behavioral skills,” psychic costs of learning, and personal discount rates affect the returns to education. These issues are highly relevant to students as they look ahead to their future careers.
Address the Great Recession of 2008
Discussions on the labor-market effects of the Great Recession of 2008 in several chapters help students place labor economics concepts in a relevant, contemporary context.
NEW! Fresh coverage in the Twelfth Edition analyzes the effects of the Great Recession of 2008 upon a number of key topics:
• Retirement ages (Chapter 7)
• Immigration (Chapter 10)
• International differences in unemployment (Chapter 14)
• Earnings inequality (Chapter 15)
NEW! A newly created section in chapter 3 analyzes the efficacy of cutting payroll taxes as a means of stimulating employment during a recession.
Help students understand scientific methodology
A brief overview of regression analysis in the appendix to Chapter 1 brings students up to speed on this key scientific technique.
Each chapter ends with an empirical study—relevant to that chapter’s content—that introduces students to different methodological issues faced by economists doing applied research. These studies enlighten students about, foster student interest in, the challenges of empirical research.
Provide tools for review and further study
A series of helpful in-text features highlights important concepts and helps students review what they’ve learned:
• A number of discussion or review questions in each chapter allow students to apply what they have learned to specific policy issues. To enhance student mastery, we provide answers to the odd-numbered questions at the back of the book.
• Lists of selected readings at the ends of chapters refer students to more advanced sources of study.
• The text’s footnotes have been updated to cite the most recent literature on each given topic. They offer a reference for students and professors who may want to delve more deeply into a given topic.
1. Introduction
2. Overview of the Labor Market
3. The Demand for Labor
4. Labor Demand Elasticities
5. Frictions in the Labor Market
6. Supply of Labor to the Economy: The Decision to Work
7. Labor Supply: Household Production, the Family, and the Life Cycle
8. Compensating Wage Differentials and Labor Markets
9. Investments in Human Capital: Education and Training
10. Worker Mobility: Migration, Immigration, and Turnover
11. Pay and Productivity: Wage Determination Within the Firm
12. Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Labor Market
13. Unions and the Labor Market
14. Unemployment
15. Inequality in Earnings
16. The Labor-Market Effects of International Trade and Production Sharing
For one-semester courses in labor economics at the undergraduate and graduate levels An overview of labor market behavior that emphasizes how theory drives public policy Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy, Twelfth Edition gives students a thorough overview of the modern theory of labor market behavior, and reveals how this theory is used to analyze public policy. Designed for students who may not have extensive backgrounds in economics, the text balances theoretical coverage with examples of practical applications that allow students to see concepts in action. Experienced educators for nearly four decades, co-authors Ronald Ehrenberg and Robert Smith believe that showing students the social implications of the concepts discussed in the course will enhance their motivation to learn.
As such, the text presents numerous examples of policy decisions that have been affected by the ever-shifting labor market. This text provides a better teaching and learning experience-for you and your students. It will help you to:
Demonstrate concepts through relevant, contemporary examples: Concepts are brought to life through analysis of hot-button issues such as immigration and return on investment in education.
Address the Great Recession of 2008: Coverage of the current economic climate helps students place course material in a relevant context.
Help students understand scientific methodology: The text introduces basic methodological techniques and problems, which are essential to understanding the field.
Provide tools for review and further study: A series of helpful in-text features highlights important concepts and helps students review what they've learned.