Exam 19: Earnings and Discrimination

One example of labor-market discrimination is that firms may be less likely to interview job-market candidates whose names suggest that they are members of a racial minority.

Sometimes wages are set above the equilibrium level when firms pay

Evidence from a study of the market for baseball players using 1960s data

In the early 20th century, segregation of street cars made streetcar companies

A union's major source of power is its

The wage difference between jobs that require education and those that don't

The time spent by students in college

James earns a degree from a top university and is hired by a prominent firm because executives at the firm believe that graduates of this university must have a high ability level or they would not have graduated. Which of the following theories of education do the executives believe?

It is likely that efficiency wages will decrease employee effort.

Which of the following statements is not correct?

One reason why better-looking workers may have higher earnings is that physical attractiveness is correlated with intelligence.

Dr. Benson is regarded as, by far, the best dentist in his part of the country, yet his income is not significantly higher than the average income for a dentist in his area. In contrast, Bo Johnson, the best baseball player in that region, earns five times the average salary of all baseball players. The most likely explanation is that

Figure 19-6 -Refer to Figure 19-6. Given demand, D1, and supply, S1, if wages adjust to balance labor supply and labor demand, what are the wage and quantity of labor?

Explain how compensating differentials could contribute to differences between the average wages of men and women.

Differences in human capital among groups of workers is possibly a reflection of past discrimination.

Which of the following is an example of discrimination in the labor market?

A difference in wages that reflects differences in the nonpay features of two jobs is called

Dan and Dave are both college graduates. Dan is a patrolman and Dave is a detective in the same police precinct. While Dan's job is inherently more dangerous than Dave's, Dave passed a difficult exam to gain promotion to detective. Dave earns more than Dan because

Over the past several years, the earnings gap between high-skilled and low-skilled workers has (i) narrowed because the demand for unskilled labor has risen over time relative to the demand for skilled labor. (ii) widened because the demand for skilled labor has risen over time relative to the demand for unskilled labor. (iii) narrowed because the supply of unskilled labor has risen over time relative to the supply of skilled labor. (iv) widened because the supply of skilled labor has risen over time relative to the supply of unskilled labor.

The wage gap between skilled and unskilled worker has