Download - Welcome to Econ 325 Economics of Gender
Welcome to Econ 325 Economics of Gender
Week 1Beginning January 22
Monday, January 22
• Introduction• Do you have the prerequisite for this
course?• Major/minor• Interest• A question for me?
Personal Index Cards
• Name• Campus address• Campus phone number• Cell phone number• Work phone number
Me website
• www.marietta.edu/~khorassj • Are you eligible for ODE
membership?• ERT membership
Before Wednesday
• Study• Course Contract• Course Outline• Chapter 1• Be prepared for ICA• Think about your paper
What is Economics?
• Resources are limited• Wants are unlimited• Can’t have everything• Need to make a decision• Economics studies how people
make these decisions
What is Opportunity Cost?
• The more resources we use to produce good “A” the less resources are available to produce good “B”
• Opportunity cost of producing additional unit of good “A” is the amount of good “B” not produced.
Question
• What is the opportunity cost of being a full-time housewife/ househusband?
• Is the opportunity cost the same for everybody?
Wednesday, January 24 • Congress has so far spent more than
$320 billion on the war. That amount of money could have provided• health care coverage for all uninsured
children for as long as the Iraq War has lasted.
• four-year scholarships (tuition and fees) to a public university for all of this year’s graduating seniors.
• Funds to build half a million affordable housing units.
• What is the opportunity cost of the war?
What does the assumption of rationality mean?
• If given your constraints, you make the best decision for you, you are rational.
• “Best” usually means benefits > costs.• “Best” sometimes means minimizing cost.
What are your constraints?
• Knowledge/Information• Social/ family/ legal constraints
/traditions• Was your decision to marry x
rational?• Was your decision to stay home after
you had kids rational?
Households/Families
• A couple of students renting an apartment together and sharing their living expenses are a __________ but not a ________.
• You live alone. You are a ________ but not a __________.
• You live with your parents in a house. You and your parents are a __________ and a _______.
Sex/ Gender
• Sexual differences = biological differences
• Gender differences = social differences
ICA1
• Is the following statement true or false? Explain. “We are planning to cover about half of the textbook in this course.”
• Briefly describe the nature of the paper you have to write for this class.
Labor Market
• Price of Labor• Labor Demand Curve• It is downward sloping. Why?• Three Reasons:
1. Diminishing marginal productivity (short-run)
2. Substitution effect (long-run)3. Scale effect (short-run & long-run)
Labor Market
• Labor Supply Curve• It slopes upward. Why?• Equilibrium• Changes in equilibrium
• What if labor becomes less productive
OCA1: due Friday in class
• # 4, page 12. Draw a separate graph for each question and describe the changes in the equilibrium wage rate and the number of workers.
Friday, January 26
• Any more thoughts regarding your paper?
• Return ICA 1
Collect OCA1
• # 4, page 12. Draw a separate graph for each question and describe the changes in the equilibrium wage rate and the number of workers.
ICA2 (in teams)
• Government expands its child care subsidy program. How does this affect the average wage rate and the number of employed workers? Draw a graph and explain.
Changing Roles (Chapter 2)
• Until recent years• Men were hunters, providers, protectors,
and competitive• Women were care givers, nurturing,
compliant, and not competitive • In recent years• Women may be providers• Men may be nurturing Would the differences disappear?
What are some factors affecting role differences?1. Physiological/biological2. Psychological3. Norms/expectations/cultures4. Economic5. Technology• Which of the above factors are
more likely to change over time?
Differences
• Don’t need to determine superiority/inferiority
• Are somewhat exaggerated• The opposite sex?• There are similarities
Study
• The rest of Chapter 2 on your own. • Pay attention to Table 2.1, page
29.• Expect ICA