Labour Market Policies and the Future of Work

Course goals

Learning objectives
At the end of the course the student is able to:

• Independently evaluate labour market policies and the relevant literature;
• Analyse how institutions affect labour market outcomes such as employment, wages and inequality;
• Formulate theory and evidence-based policy advise about the economic consequences of reforms of labour market institutions;
• Write an empirical research paper.

Content

This course studies how institutions affect labour market outcomes, such as unemployment, participation, migration and wage inequality. We will investigate the labour market effects of a variety of institutions, such as unemployment insurance systems, education policies, minimum wages, employment protection legislation and migration policies. Questions that will be addressed are: which active labour market policies are effective in reducing unemployment? Do immigration flows – such as the influx of refugees – have an impact on wages and employment opportunities of natives? How does employment protection legislation (flexibility) affect labour market outcomes? How do processes such as technological change (robotization and AI) change the future of work?

The course consists of two central elements. First, the course provides a state of the art overview of the literature on labour economics, focusing on the impact of institutions on labour market outcomes. During the course you will not only apply theories from modern labour economics, but also study recent empirical papers on the impact of labour market policies. Specific attention will be paid to methods for policy evaluation: how do recent studies estimate the causal effect of policy reforms? This course will thereby increase your understanding of how institutions affect labour market outcomes. Second, during the course you will write an empirical research paper. Instructions on data access and data management will be provided during the course. This provides you a relevant opportunity to improve your writing skills and your data analysis skills, so you will be better prepared to write your MSc thesis. 

Format
Combination of lectures, tutorials and paper sessions.


In case online access is required for this course and you are not in the position to buy the access code, you are advised to contact the course coordinator for an alternative solution. Please note that access codes are not re-usable meaning that codes from second hand books do not work, as well as access codes from books with a different ISBN. Separate or spare codes are usually not available.