Exam 19: Earnings and Discrimination

Scenario 19-2 Travis,a student at a community college,is considering what he should do for summer employment.Two recruiters show up at his school in search of summer workers.Recruiter A is looking for workers to help a disaster relief agency distribute food aid in Africa.Recruiter B is looking for custodial help to clean motel rooms in a motel located near the entrance to a famous national park. -Refer to Scenario 19-2.Travis is carefully considering the options that each recruiter presents.On the basis of knowledge obtained in his economics class,Travis concludes that

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

In a recent U.S.presidential campaign,a lobbyist for a prominent national women's organization made the claim that women in the United States earn $0.60 for every $1.00 earned by a man.A reporter,who was prepared for this statement,asked the lobbyist why wages paid to the organization's secretarial staff (all of whom were women)were significantly below the national average if they were truly interested in raising the rates of compensation for women.If you were the lobbyist,how would you have answered this question? Do you think your answer is convincing? Explain.

The superstar phenomenon explains why professional athletes earn more than amateur athletes.

Which of the following explains the "beauty premium" differences in wages?

The signaling theory of education maintains that workers who complete specific levels of education signal their high productivity to potential to employers.

Discrimination is a reflection of some people's prejudice against certain groups in society.

The fact that wage differentials continue to exist across different groups of workers leads economists to believe that

A competitive market may be consistent with a discriminatory wage differential if

Suppose that a company hires recent college graduates for two types of jobs,sales people and credit analysts.The hours worked and skill levels are the same for both positions.The sales people must "cold call," which many people find to be unpleasant.When comparing the salaries of the two positions,it is likely that the company pays the

All differences in wages that are not accounted for by differences in human-capital investment are likely to be a result of discrimination.

A 1986 study of segregation on early 20th century U.S.streetcars found that the primary source of racial segregation on streetcars was

Empirical work that does not account for differences in the productivities of workers

Why would a wage differential due to discrimination be unlikely to persist in a competitive labor market?

Explain why the following situation is likely to persist: soccer players in Europe are the highest paid athletes and in the US they are among the lowest paid athletes.

Which of the following statements accurately explains the superstar phenomenon in wages?

The theory of efficiency wages is that

It is argued that competitive markets provide a "natural remedy" to discriminatory wage practices.Which of the following is widely recognized as a potential limit to the potency of that natural remedy?

According to the signaling theory of education,

The competition experiement conducted by economists Muriel Niederle and Lise Vesterlund confirmed the results of Terry Odean which were that