Economics of Gender - Spring 2008

Notice - Department of Economics Web Site: The Department of Economics maintains a comprehensive web site at http://www.tulane.edu/~economic/ . This should be your first stop for all your economics inquiries. On the web site you will find information about the major, the faculty, and internet resources in economics. Other important links are Econlit (you are able to download most papers through TU Link from Econlit) and Economics Research Resource Guide. The web site for this class can be accessed at http://www.tulane.edu/~msyun/ .

Course Description: The goal of this course is to explore and understand the similarities and differences between men and women from economic perspectives. This course examines, based on basic economic theory and empirical analysis, how gender differences lead to different economic outcomes for the sexes, measured in terms of earnings, income, poverty rates, hours of work, and other standards used by economists to determine economic well-being. This course also evaluates the effectiveness of government and corporate policies aimed to improve the welfare of women.

Prerequisite: Economics 101 and 102. These prerequisites are taken seriously and and you are expected to have mastered the material covered in these courses .

Office Hours: MW 11AM - Noon or by appointment. Room: Tilton Hall 310, 862-8356. My email address is msyun@tulane.edu .

Readings: The following should be available at the bookstores:

The Economics of Women, Men, and Work , 5th edition by Francine D. Blau, Marianne A. Ferber, and Anne E. Winkler, Prentice Hall, 2006.

My organization of the text is a bit different from mine, and I will lecture on some things that are not in the text. Also, for some topics, my treatment will be different than that of the text. The text should be viewed as a complement to the lectures, not a substitute. You are responsible for the material in the text, the online study guide, and in the lectures. I make every effort to have class attendance a necessary (though not sufficient) factor in performing well on examinations. Note that I have deliberately kept the amount of reading down. This is because I expect you to read and thoroughly understand all the material in the text. The lecture outline below provides an approximate correspondence between lecture topics and readings. Please allocate your time efficiently throughout the semester. The case studies contained in the text are to help you sort out analytical issues. You will not be tested on the case study material. Though I do not require to read any additional materials due to the reasons noted above, students may obtain interesting insights by reading papers, books and newspapers [the Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com), the Economist (http://www.economist.com), the Financial Times (http://www.usa.ft.com) and the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com )].

Problems to Work On: The text contains a very good set of discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Some of these questions are extremely difficult. You should use these to help develop your understanding of the problems of economics of gender.

Lecture Topics:

The following is a list of lecture topics. On some I will go into great detail, others I will but mention in passing. Unless indicated, the Chapters below include the Appendices, especially where noted. The assigned pages represents the minimum reading you should be doing during the semester. I will follow the order below: pace your reading, studying and working on problems based on the coverage of the exams, as indicated below in the section "Examinations".

1. Introduction to the course

Review of basic economic tools (Chapter 1)
Historical perspectives (Chapter 2)
Goldin, Claudia, Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women , Oxford University Press, 1990
Regression (Appendix, Chapter 7)
Killingsworth, A Simple Introduction to Econometrics
Nisbet and Vakil, "Some Estimates of Price and Expenditure Elasticities of Demand for Marijuana Among U.C.L.A. Students," Review of Economics and Statistics, 1972, 473-75

2. Early Socialization and Education

3. The Family

4. Labor Supply

Chapter 4
Killingsworth, "Labor Supply of Women," in Eatwell, Milgate and Newman, eds., The New Palgrave, Stockton Press, 1987

5. Earnings and Occupational Status: Labor Market Discrimination

Chapters 5-7
Malkiel and Malkiel, "Male-Female Pay Differentials in Professional Employment," American Economic Review, 1973, 693-705
Patrick McGeehan, "Wall Street Highflier to Outcast: A Woman's Story," New York Times, February 10, 2002
Lisa Belkin, "The Opt-Out Revolution," New York Times, October 26, 2003

6. Policy: Implications, Tools, Consequences

Examinations: There are three examinations. The following table summarizes the time and dates.


Midterm Exam 1	Wednesday, February 27, 2008, in class	Sections 1, 2 and 3 under lecture topics	25%
Midterm Exam 2	Friday, April 11, 2008, in class	Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 under lecture topics	25%
Final Exam	Saturday, May 3, 2008, 9-Noon (3 hour exam)	Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 under lecture topics	50%

Note: I reserve the right to alter this schedule during the semester. All exams are cumulative. Of course, new material covered since the last exam (sections in bold ) will be emphasized, but you are responsible for all the material.

Makeup Policy: Students who simply do not show up for exams should not expect to be given a makeup. You should present a valid documentation in order to avoid receiving zero points on the missing exam.

There are no extra-credit assignments. There is no way to ex post improve your grade on an examination. Plan to do well on the required material.

Some Warnings, Advice and Hints:

1. If you are having problems, please seek out help early. Come in prepared, having gone over the lectures, text, and problems in the text. If you have missed any classes, make sure you have gotten the missed notes from classmates. In cases like this, it usually pays to get the notes from at least two of your class mates.
2. The only way to learn it is to keep going over it, work the problems in your text, and THINK about what you are doing at each step. I suggest that you first read through the entire book. This will help you to begin to think about this course. Go over the lectures and think about what problems I raise and what problems are raised in the book. A good exercise is to pick up the newspaper and come up with alternative explanations of various "business" and "economic" news. Furthermore, let me urge you to read as much of the material as possible early on in the course. You will find this will help you develop a perspective on the course material.
3. Do not wait until after I have lectured on something to read the material work on it yourself. Come to class prepared !
4. The emphasis in this class is on developing your ability to apply analytical techniques and on your understanding of fundamental concepts. Exams will emphasize this. They will not test whether you remember what the balance of trade for the U.S. was in 1978. They will assume you have a complete understanding of the lectures and text, and will ask you to apply what you have learned to "new" circumstances.
5. The course material builds on earlier work. It is essential that you master every part of the material. I will integrate the material as we go along, but you will be ahead of the game if you make extended efforts to learn and integrate it yourself.