Econ 444 - Autumn Quarter

Canada and the United States: Labor Market Institutions and Labor Market Outcomes

Raitt 121, MW 1:30-3:20

Instructor:	Shelly Lundberg
Office:	Raitt 206B
Office Hours:	Wednesdays 3:30-4:30
Email:	lundberg@u.washington.edu
Phone:	206-543-6149

Course Description

Canada and the United States are very similar socially, politically, and economically, but institutions and policies affecting employment and the distribution of income have evolved in distinct ways. Why has Canada experienced higher rates of unemployment than the U.S., and what role does the structure of the unemployment compensation system play? What effect do the very different immigration policies of the two countries have on the assimilation and status of immigrants? Why have labor unions remained much stronger in Canada and what effect does this have on the efficiency of the labor market and level of inequality? Minimum wage laws have been controversial in both countries. Can we learn anything about the impact of these regulations by adding a cross-national perspective? In this comparative course, we will apply basic microeconomic analysis to explain labor market outcomes as the result of market forces in different institutional settings. We will also discuss evolving policy debates in both countries.

We will focus on four distinct areas of labor market analysis:

Immigration;
Unemployment;
Minimum Wages
Unions

and will spend approximately four classes (two weeks) on each topic. The first week will be devoted to presenting basic Canadian and American data, outlining the historical and institutional background, and surveying some current policy debates. The final week of the course will concentrate on levels and changes in the degree of economic inequality in the two countries, and the role of policy in perpetuating and alleviating inequality.

Course Materials

To reduce the cost to you, selected chapters from two labor economics textbooks, one American and one Canadian, have been compiled into an ebook available online by McGraw-Hill (Primus). I’ve been told that the price for this e-text will be $37.80. Instructions on downloading and paying for the e-text are available here. If you have any problems with this, contact Primus at PrimisMHHE_College@mcgraw-hill.com of 800-962-9342, and also please alert me to any difficulties. Other articles on the reading list are available through UW Libraries on-line.

The web page for this course will contain links to data sources, readings with direct on-line access, and supplementary readings, as well as copies of the syllabus and lecture outlines. It can be reached through my homepage at http://csde.washington.edu/lundberg/index.htm.

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