Syllabus

Labor Economics, Fall 2025

Course Description

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to key topics in modern labor economics, including labor supply, labor demand, human capital, compensating wage differentials, labor market discrimination, wage inequality, and labor market institutions and policies. The course particularly emphasizes the integration of classical theories and empirical research methods with the realities of the Chinese labor market, enabling students to become familiar with fundamental theories and methodologies in labor economics while understanding the current conditions and challenges of China’s labor market. Ultimately, students will be equipped to apply these analytical methods and tools to conduct targeted, in-depth analyses of Chinese labor market issues.

Prerequisites include microeconomics and econometrics. The course employs a combination of instructor lectures, student discussions, and research presentations. There will be two in-class discussions during the semester, and students are required to present their research topics at the end of the term.

Evaluation

Component Weight
Participation 10%
Class Discussions 30%
Final: Team Project (Research Proposal) 60%

Main Textbooks

  • Borjas G. (2024), Labor Economics, 6-9th edition, McGraw-Hill Inc.
  • 陆铭和梁文泉(2016)，《劳动和人力资源经济学：经济体制与公共政策（第二版）》，上海人民出版社。
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏(2011)，《劳动经济学》，南京大学出版社。

Main Content

  1. Introduction to Modern Labor Economics
  • Borjas,G(2024), Labor Economics, Chapter 1.
  • 陆铭和梁文泉(2016),导论
  • Joshua Angrist and Alan Krueger, Empirical Strategies in Labor Economics, in Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol.3, Edited by O. Ashenfelter and D. Card, Elsevier Science, 1999. Section 2.1, pp.1282-1284.
  1. Introduction to Labor Market: Some basic concepts and Statistics
  • 陆铭和梁文泉(2016),第2章
  1. Labor Supply: Theory and Evidence
  • Borjas G. (2024), Chapter2
  • 陆铭和梁文泉(2016),第5章
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏（2011），第二章
  1. Labor Demand: Theory and Evidence
  • Borjas G. (2024), Chapter3
  • 陆铭和梁文泉(2016),第4章
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏（2011），第二章
  1. Labor Market Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence
  • Borjas G. (2024), Chapter4
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏（2011），第七章。
  1. Human Capital: Theory and Evidence
  • Borjas(2024),Chapter6.
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏（2011），第六章。
  1. Compensating Wage Differentials
  • Borjas(2024),Chapter7.
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏（2011），第九章。
  1. Discrimination and Segmentation
  • Borjas(2024),Chapter9.
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏（2011），第九章
  1. Wage Structure
  • Borjas(2024),Chapter8.
  • 陆铭和梁文泉(2016),第12章。
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏（2011），第八章。
  1. Inequality and Poverty
  • 陆铭和梁文泉(2016),第12章。
  • 李晓春和曲兆鹏（2011），第八章。