《劳动经济学》(作者Borjas)第二章习题答案.pdfVIP

CHAPTER 2 2-1. How many hours will a person allocate to leisure activities if her indifference curves between consumption and goods are concave to the origin? A worker will either work all available time or will not work at all. As drawn in Figure A, point B is preferred to points A and C. Thus, the worker chooses not to enter the labor market. As drawn in Figure B, point C is preferred to both points A and B . Thus, the worker chooses not to consume any leisure and work all available time. Figure A Figure B Goods Goods C C U1 U1 A A U0 U0 B B Hours of Leisure Hours of Leisure 2-2. What is the effect of a rise in the price of market goods on a worker’s reservation wage, probability of entering the labor force, and hours of work? Suppose the price of market goods increases fromp to p ′ and the person’s non-labor income is V. If she chooses not to work, she can purchase V/p′ units of consumption after the price change, whereas she could have consumed V/p units of consumption prior to the price increase. Thus, her endowment point has moved from E to E ′ in Figure A. As long as leisure is a normal good, the indifference curve is steeper as we move up a vertical line, indicating that the slope of the indifference curve is steeper at E than at E ′. Thus, an increase in the price of goods lowers the reservation wage and makes the person more likely to work.