Entry requirements

Economics, Basic Course

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student is expected to be able to

- describe how the gender factor is reflected in employment, income and economic welfare in an economy

- explain underlying factors for gender differences in the economy

- discuss how organisations, markets and the public sector can increase or decrease the gender differences

Content

The course consists of the following parts:

1. Gender and method: Gender is defined and different economic methods for studying gender issues are examined.

2. Work and discrimination: In an analysis of reasons for income differences, it is tested how much is explained by human capital and compensating differences and discrimination, respectively. Data is compared between different countries, in particular Sweden, the US and Canada.

3. Labour force participation and its consequences for the family structure: Here, the degree of employment, the poverty trap, unemployment among women and the role of politics are analysed in a comparative perspective.

4. Gender segregation at the work place: International comparisons with segregation indices are studied as well as theories of segregation. Moreover, the relation between segregation and income, the effects of segregation at the work place and the importance of domestic policy are discussed.

The course will analyse these questions both from a neoclassical and a non-neoclassical perspective, i.e. institutional economics.

Instruction

The instruction consists of lectures and seminars. The instruction is in English.

Assessment

The assessment is made in the form of a compulsory memorandum corresponding to 2.5 credits and a written exam corresponding to 5 credits. The grade for the memorandum is pass (G) and fail (U) and for the exam, pass with distinction (VG), pass (G) and fail (U).

The memorandum part also consists of two compulsory seminars, a planning seminar and a seminar for presenting the memorandum. Presence at these seminars is compulsory. Each part is reported separately in UPPDOK. A total grade for the whole course corresponding to 7.5 credits is given when both parts have been completed. For the grade pass (G), a pass is required on both the memorandum and the exam. The grade pass with distinction requires a pass (G) on the memorandum and a pass with distinction (VG) on the exam.