Exam 20: Earnings, Unions and Discrimination

In the small town of Hamilton, Tasmania, there is a local hardware store called Eddy's Hardware. Only two types of workers apply for jobs at Eddy's Hardware, cowboys and farmboys. Local politicians have received numerous complaints that Eddy's Hardware is practicing wage discrimination against cowboys. Eddy's Hardware denies the complaint and says they are only trying to maximise profit. There is also a second hardware store in town, named Frank's Hardware, which, unlike Eddy's Hardware, is not facing discriminatory complaints. -Which of the following statements would strengthen the discrimination complaint against Eddy's Hardware? (i) many cowboys take six months per year off from work to compete in a rodeo circuit, and therefore have less on-the-job experience with a hardware store (ii) farmboys are more prone to calling in sick (iii) farmboys often show up to work still intoxicated from the night before

Which theory would support the idea that education does not enhance productivity, and raising workers' educational levels would not affect wages?

Most workers in the economy earn a wage that is:

Which of the following theories suggests that education is correlated with natural ability?

Studies that try to measure the factors that explain wage differences have shown that:

After the Second World War, several Asian countries including Japan had low wages compared to Australia and New Zealand. These Asian countries however, increased worker education levels faster than Australia and New Zealand. As a result of this investment, economists who adhere to the human capital view of education would predict:

Labour unions will raise the quantity of labour demanded.

Evidence suggests that business owners are generally:

The fact that workers receive different wages is likely caused by:

In recent years, the ratio of earnings of the typical Australian university graduate to the earnings of the typical high-school graduate without additional education has:

Given a community worker for the Red Cross gets paid less money than a professional soccer player, this means that:

Suppose a forestry firm has just two types of jobs. One requires an education and the other does not. The differences in the wages is high enough to provide workers with a reasonable return on their investment in education. It is likely that:

The neoclassical theory of the labour market:

An economy has two jobs, one that requires education and one that does not. If the wage difference between the two jobs is not sufficient for individual workers to make a return on their investment in education, it is likely that:

Women tend to expect to work more years of their life than they used to. This new development in work expectations has led to which of the following?

Evidence of discrimination in labour markets:

Without government intervention in competitive markets:

Which of the following would represent a cost of compulsory education? (i) reduced crime rates (ii) the fact that students being compelled to attend school may interfere with the learning of more serious students (iii) lost wages that a dropout could earn waiting on tables at the local cafe

Labour demand reflects:

It is increasingly clear that technological change, rather than international trade, has been largely responsible for an expanding wage gap between high-skill and low-skill workers.