This course will give you an understanding of some of the issues in contemporary labour economics, with an emphasis on the empirical side of the discipline.  This course is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of all of the relevant issues in labour economics. The topics chosen are selected in order to illustrate the varieties of questions labour economists ask themselves, and how they proceed to solve them. Topics covered include: introduction to empirical labour economics; human capital and returns to education; school quality;  the employment effect of minimum wages; labour supply; immigration; crime; discrimination; artificial intelligence.

The course is divided in two parts: The first part covers fundamental aspects of the labor market. We start with basic models of labor supply and demand.  We then study different types of market failures and frictions. The second part of the course is structured around a number of key empirical literature. We first review research on inequality from an individual, firm and intergenerational perspective. We then cover causal evidence on how labor markets adjust to shocks.

The final grade is composed of:

• Assignment  35%
• Presentation 10%
• Discussion and participation during the lectures 5%
• Exam 50%

The use of AI-based text generation tools (e.g., ChatGPT) is NOT permitted.

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