Organizational Strategy, Labor Market Policy, and the Future of Work

This course applies economic frameworks to labor market situations. The initial section focuses on organizations' personnel strategies. We consider how labor markets differ from other goods and how to adopt classic supply/demand analysis to attract and motivate employees with implications for training, hiring, and incentives. We draw from a wide variety of situations including manufacturing, police officers, a restaurant chain, and the market for investment banking and private equity analysts. The second portion of the course will provide insights into key public policy issues related to labor markets including drivers of inequality, minimum wages, labor market discrimination, and labor unions. The final set of classes considers how AI, demographics, working from home, and other changes will change the labor market and how managers can prepare.