LABOUR ECONOMICS
COURSEWORK ASSIGNMENT BRIEF (ESSAY MAIN)
1. This assignment will take the form of an individual essay and will contribute 100% to the overall marks for the module.
2. Your answer should be no longer than 3000 words. There is no fixed penalty for exceeding the word count, but students should be made aware that the marker will not consider any work after the +10% word count tolerance has been reached, within the allocation of marks. Students may therefore be penalised for a failure to be concise and for failing to conclude their work within the word count specified.
3. You should use a wide range of academic sources (i.e., textbooks and journal articles) by undertaking a range of reading that contributes to you producing a critical analysis of key issues. A minimum of 10 relevant sources should be consulted but note that it is not the number of sources that is important but that the range of reading contributes to you producing an essay with high quality analysis. Simply citing 10 or more sources will not guarantee a pass mark. Online dictionaries, Wikipedia and other websites are NOT reliable sources of information and should not be relied on.
4. You are required to reference all sources used consistently and accurately using the Harvard Referencing style (for guidance see If your bibliography is not up to standard, your mark may be reduced by up to 10%.
For Australia, compare alternative economic theories and models evaluating which one better describes:
1. Length of the Working day/week (20%)
a. How is the working time determined according to the Classical Political Economy (Adam Smith) and to Marx? Discuss that in light of the subsistence wage theory (5%).
b. How is the working time determined according to the Marginalist Analysis? (5%)
c. In the Marginalist Analysis, talk about the factors that affect supply and demand for labour. (5%)
d. Explain the human capital model, and how it affects the composition of supply and demand for labour in your selected country. (5%)
2. On Long-term unemployment (20%)
a. Is this a disequilibrium unemployment? (5%)
b. Is this a demand deficient or cyclical unemployment? (5%)
c. Is the country seeming to have a ‘natural’ rate of unemployment? (5%)
d. Is the Marxian analysis of the reserved army relevant to the country’s unemployment? how can you relate those two concepts? (5%)
3. Wage inequality (20%)
a. What is the labour-capital indicator of income inequality of the country? (show graphically) (5%)
b. Is wage inequality due to supply (Immigration, Education) or demand shifts (International trade, Skilled-biased technological change, Changes in labour market institutions)? (5%)
c. Who is benefited more with the existence of wage inequality? (5%)
d. What is the role of unions in wage inequality? (5%)
4. Gender discrimination (20%)
a. What is the gender inequality level in the country you study? (5%)
b. To what degree is the gender inequality of the country explained by the Becker model? (5%)
c. To what degree is the gender inequality of the country explained by Hakim’s preference theory? (5%)
d. To what degree is the gender inequality of the country explained by Laibman’s household conflict theory? (5%)
5. Inward and outward migration (20%)
a. Provide a list with the immigrants’ countries of origin? (5%)
b. What are the economic causes of immigration? (5%)
c. What is the effect on inward immigration on general wage level, on natives and immigrants in particular? Are natives and immigrants complements? (5%)
d. How is immigration explained by the Marxian approach and the effects of unionism on immigration? (5%)
