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