Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy (10th Edition) [Paperback]

Ronald G. Ehrenberg (Author), Robert S. Smith (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321533739 | ISBN-13: 978-0321533739 | Publication Date: March 2, 2008 | Edition: 10th

  The best-selling Modern Labor Economics provides a clear, comprehensive introduction to labor-market behavior. In addition to presenting core theory, Ehrenberg and Smith provide empirical evidence for or against each hypothesis, explore the usefulness of various theories for public policy analysis, and include detailed policy examples in each chapter.

Introduction; Overview of the Labor Market; The Demand for Labor; Labor Demand Elasticities; Frictions in the Labor Market; Supply of Labor to the Economy: The Decision to Work; Labor Supply: Household Production, the Family, and the Life Cycle; Compensating Wage Differentials and Labor Markets; Investments in Human Capital: Education and Training; Worker Mobility: Migration, Immigration, and Turnover; Pay and Productivity: Wage Determination Within the Firm; Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Labor Market; Unions and the Labor Market; Unemployment; Inequality in Earnings; The Labor Market Effects of International Trade and Production Sharing.

For all readers interested in labor economics.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ronald G. Ehrenberg is the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics at Cornell University and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow. He is also Director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute. Ehrenberg received a BA in mathematics from Harpur College (SUNY Binghamton) in 1966 and a PhD in economics from Northwestern University in 1970. As a member of the Cornell faculty for 32 years, he has authored or co-authored over 120 papers, and authored or edited 20 books. He was the founding editor of Research in Labor Economics, and served a ten-year term as co-editor of the Journal of Human Resources. He has been a member of several editorial boards and a consultant to numerous governmental agencies and commissions, as well as numerous universities and private research corporations.

His recent research has focused on higher education issues. Ehrenberg has supervised the dissertations of thirty-nine PhD students and served on committees for countless more. He is also passionate about undergraduate education, involves undergraduate students in his research, and has co-authored papers with a number of these undergraduates. In 2003, ILR-Cornell awarded him the General Mills Foundation Award for Exemplary Undergraduate Teaching. In 2005, he was named a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, the highest award for undergraduate teaching that exists at Cornell.

Ehrenberg has served as a consultant to faculty and administrative groups as well as to trustees at a number of colleges and universities on issues relating to tuition and financial aid policies, faculty compensation policies, faculty retirement policies, and other budgetary, planning, and academic issues. Among the institutions he has worked with are Brandeis University, Oberlin College, Northeastern University, the University of North Carolina, the University of Chicago, Vanderbilt University, the U.S. Naval Academy, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Smith College, the Suffolk University Law School, and Albany University (SUNY).

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Robert S. Smith, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, is also a professor in the school's Labor Economics Department. After receiving his PhD in Economics at Stanford University in 1971, he taught at the University of Connecticut and worked as an economist in the U.S. Department of Labor before coming to Cornell in 1974. He has authored numerous articles in the field of labor economics.

Professor Smith's research interests have centered on analyses of various labor market policies, especially those in the safety and health area. Most recently, he has served as co-principal investigator in the evaluation of the effects of two pilot programs in New York’s workers’ compensation program: one in the use of managed care and one in the use of alternative dispute resolution structures.

Professor Smith’s teaching has included the basic required labor economics courses for undergraduates and for students in the school’s professional master’s program. In 1999 he received the school’s General Mills Foundation Award for Innovation in Instruction.

Product Details

• Paperback: 650 pages
• Publisher: Pearson / Addison Wesley; 10th edition (March 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321533739
• ISBN-13: 978-0321533739
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A helpful and informative book, May 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy (Addison-Wesley Series in Economics) (Hardcover)

I bought this book to use for my Labor Economics class at Cornell University. My professor, Professor Smith, is a contributor to this book and it was a wonderful supplement to the lectures. The book is filled with useful information and practical applications, so its appeal is not limited to economics students, but anyone who wishes to know more about payroll taxes, policy applications, work incentives and the like. This easy-to-understand book benefited me a lot and I would recommend its use to other courses in labor economics at other colleges and universities.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting textbook about labor economics, August 7, 2002

By 

"oha001" (Evanston, IL, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

I was a teaching assistant in a labor economics undergraduate course in Northwestern University that used this book. I found it very interesting and full of real-world examples and discussions. The mathematical level is simple and therefore the book is accessible also to students with only little background in mathematics or economics. The exposition is clear. About half of the problems and the review questions are solved at the end of the book, making it possible for the reader to practice and test her understanding of the material. I believe that most students can understand most of the material in the book even without taking a formal course in labor economics, and therefore I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the functioning of labor markets.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent Study Guide, November 7, 2003

By 

Jason Shao "jayshao" (Metuchen, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Study Guide to Accompany Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy ( (Paperback)

This study guide was pretty good. The questions have a good mix of difficulty, and the samples and explanations really helped with a couple of the concepts that were pretty unclear in the book.