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ECO-30032 - Module Specification
Keele Business School
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2022/23 Last Updated: 19 January 2023

ECO-30032 - Labour Economics
Coordinator:
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 6
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733094

Programme/Approved Electives for 2022/23

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Yes

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2022/23

This module is designed to provide students with an understanding of the significance of the labour market and labour market policy. The module will consider the factors that underlie the demand for labour by firms and the supply of labour by households and individuals; the module will subsequently examine issues like labour discrimination, training, efficiency wages and unemployment.

Aims
The module aims to provide the theoretical tools to allow a thorough understanding of the factors in the labour market that influence wages, employment, unemployment, educational choices and work incentives and to consider the empirical evidence for these relationships. Throughout, an understanding of how these outcomes can be affected by economic policy will be developed.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Explain why individuals decide to enter the labour market and evaluate decisions in relation to hours of work, attachment to the labour market, and the allocation of time over the lifecycle: 1,2
Explicate the foundations of firms' decisions to hire or fire workers and the effects of exogenous variables on this decision: 1,2
Compare and evaluate the differences between workers brought about by human capital, unions, discrimination and the differences between jobs (some are pleasant, some are not)
: 1,2
Apply economic theory to show the effects of different types of policy on labour supply/demand: 1,2
Critically analyse the effect of unions on wages, productivity and unemployment, and explain what governs union activity: 1,2
Explain the investment decision of individuals on human and social capital: 1,2

Study hours

20 hours lectures
4 hours classes
20 hours class preparation
50 hours coursework preparation
54 hours independent study
2 hours exam

School Rules

ECO-10028 or equivalent; ECO-20042 or equivalent.

Description of Module Assessment

1: Reflective Analysis weighted 40%
A commentary on a published article/report
Provide a 1000-word reflective commentary on a published peer-reviewed research article or an article appearing on mainstream, reputable Press media or a government report/paper on a topic of interest to labour economics. The article would not have previously been discussed in class and students will be asked to comment on various aspects of it ranging from relevance of the research question/hypothesis, to methodological approach(es), to the significance of the findings to society and economic policy. Submission is electronic through Turnitin.

2: Unseen Exam weighted 60%
2 hour unseen examination
A computer-based test which will be available for a period of 24-hours, but once the exam starts, it should be finished and submitted within in 120 minutes, otherwise the system will submit the answer automatically.

Please note that for the 2022/23 Academic Year programmes may be adapted to operate in accordance with a flexible, digital approach. This means that there may be some changes made to how modules are delivered and assessed. The latest information will be provided to you by your School in module handbooks. We endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes and details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/student-terms-and-conditions/

Last Updated: 19 January 2023