Discrimination in Sports
• Describe the economic meaning of a "taste for discrimination."
• Explain the discrimination coefficient and how an employer incorporates this into hiring workers of a certain group.
• Describe the different forms of labor market discrimination (employer, statistical, employee, and consumer discrimination.) Explain the market effects of each of these forms of discrimination. Provide examples from sports or entertainment industries for each form of discrimination.
• How does discrimination play out in terms of hiring decision and wages? Explain.
• Explain how an employer may personally not have discriminatory preferences but still act as an discriminator in her hiring decisions (think about statistical and consumer discrimination).
• Can discrimination persist in the long run in competitive labor markets? Explain.
• Can discrimination persist in the long run in non- competitive labor markets (e.g., monopsony)? Explain.
• How might you go about empirical testing whether a pro sports athlete incurs wage discrimination?
• Explain when employer discrimination end up excluding a certain group from the labor compared to hiring the group but at a lower wage (refer to text reading).
• Describe Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act
• How has participation in female sports changed since the introduction of Title IX?
• Policymakers question whether Title IX is reason for dramatic participation increases.
• Explain the effects of Title IX on male sports opportunities.
• Has Title IX achieved its potential of gender equity?
• Describe how schools comply with Title IX.
• There have been about three significant jumps in female participation rates in high school sports. What are the possible reasons given in the reading?
• Explain the correlations between children who participate in sports and other positive behavioral outcomes. Describe the difficulties in empirically determining these effects.
• Why might there be positive relationship between high school athletics and educational attainment and wages? Explain the reasons given in the reading.
Labor Mobility and Market Transitions
• Based on the Borjas readings, explain how workers choose to migrate based on their expected net present value of lifetime earnings in the places of origin and destination, as well as on migration costs. Then, illustrate the costs and benefits of migrating illustrated in Grapes of Wrath. More generally, explain the determinants that increase/decrease labor movement between two regions.
• The Joad family makes a collective migration choice. Describe this choice theoretically (as in the reading) and within the context of the film. Are any of Joads tied movers? Are there any tied stayers?
• The film shows that growers falsely advertised working conditions in California to artificially suppress wages. Explain the market conditions that allow growers to do this. What does this suggest about the competitive characteristics of the market?
• After arriving in California the Joad family finds their expectations about the labor market to be inaccurate. How does imperfect information received by the migrants impact labor market conditions in California? What are its implications for the economics of migration model?
• Suppose that the Joads arrive in California only to realize that they miscalculated (i.e., their move actually resulted in net losses in future earnings.) Could it be rational for them to stay in California? Explain. Under what conditions would they return to Oklahoma? Explain.
• Competitive market models generally assume that firms and markets are relatively quick to respond to changes in supply and demand. Explain how The Grapes of Wrath illustrates market adjustments and the human costs incurred. Does the film suggest an active government role in correcting these problems? Discuss.
• Is there monopsony power among the firms in Grapes of Wrath? Explain.
• What is the depiction of role of government in Grapes of Wrath?
• Explain how the film On The Watetfamtportrays the labor market as both one with monopsony market power and monopoly power (from the unions standpoint of sellers of labor).
At the end of On the Waterfront, Terry takes a stand against Johnny Friendly (the mob boss). Was Terry's choice based on self-interest, or altruism to benefit other dockworkers, or some other reasons?