Class Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions/week, 1.5 hours/session
Recitations: 1 session/week, 1.5 hours/session
Prerequisites
The prerequisites for this course are intermediate microeconomics (including basic duality) and familiarity with econometrics at the level of Mostly Harmless Econometrics. For courses covering this background material, see 14.04 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory and 14.32 Econometrics on MIT OpenCourseWare.
Description
This course covers traditional and contemporary topics in labor economics and aims to encourage the development of independent research interests. The course is divided into two halves; Prof. Joshua Angrist teaches the first part, and Prof. Daron Acemoglu teaches the second part.
The class is offered in two versions, 14.661 and 14.661A, meeting together.
All 14.661/14.661A participants are expected to do the following:
- Attend class and recitation each week.
- Take an out-of-class final during exam week.
- Complete 4 problem sets.
- Come to class prepared to discuss readings.
- Be prepared for a weekly brief impromptu presentation (BIP) in which a randomly chosen student summarizes 1 of 2 articles assigned from our reading list. BIPs are timed (90 seconds) and done without slides or notes.
In addition, 14.661A participants are expected to complete an empirical project involving replication and extension of published work. The 14.661A empirical project is detailed in a separate note posted online. Economics PhD students aiming to satisfy requirements for Labor as a major field should take 14.661A.
Auditors are expected to do the coursework required for credit.
Grading
Labor students may earn a total of 100 regular points plus 5 participation points as follows:
14.661
- 4 problem sets (10 points each)
- Final (60 points)
- 5 participation points for attendance awarded as .25 each for up to 20 classes, excluding the first (i.e., up to 5 excused absences)
14.661A
- 4 problem sets (10 points each)
- Final (40 points)
- Empirical project (20 points)
- 5 participation points awarded as in 14.661
