Exam 20: Earnings, Unions and Discrimination

When differences in human capital among workers lead to discrimination, it is typically a result of social or political processes rather than economic processes.

Attributing the gender wage gap to ongoing discrimination by employers will likely be incorrect because:

Which of the following theories explains why increased education translates to higher wages?

What was the main reason the gender gap did not narrow during the post-war years?

A signalling theory of education suggests that:

Expenditure on human capital:

Given that workers differ in terms of ability and effort, firms are likely to pay people different wages even in the absence of discrimination.

When the supply of workers is scarce, one would predict that market wages would be:

The wage differential between educated workers and uneducated workers in developing economies is typically:

The statement 'the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer' is evident in the fact that:

Superstars are able to earn very high incomes. Superstars arise in markets where customers want to enjoy the good supplied by the best producer, and the good can be supplied to many customers at a low cost.

The return to investment in human capital is observed:

Politicians often point to wage differentials as evidence of labour market discrimination against ethnic minorities and women. Nonetheless, economists argue that this is not an appropriate way to identify discrimination because:

Economists usually agree that if a study shows conclusive evidence that education is directly tied to increases in productivity:

If empirical tests of the human capital theory find conclusive evidence that education enhances productivity, then optimal public policy would suggest that:

Explain the role of job experience in explaining the difference between the average wages of men and women.

A natural antidote to employer discrimination in market economies is the:

The statement that 'public school teachers are paid less than engineers, but have similar amounts of education', is likely to reflect market conditions such that:

What are efficiency wages? Explain how they may make a firm more profitable.

Explain why miners in Western Australia are the modern versions of Doppelsöldners in Australia today?