Can someone recommend a thorough but introductory chapter on the neo-classical theory of labor market equilibrium? I always find myself stalled at the first assumption, that if prices or quantities of the goods produced rise then wages rise (because demand for labor rises) in a proportional amount. That seems to assume away a lot and to make an increased probability into a certainty. But since so much economic theory is based on this assumption, I was hoping there might be a decent apologetic written somewhere that made a decent case for its heuristic value. And that if I worked through a decent size set of comparative statics (?) problems (i.e., "if you change this variable, what happens to the curve?" type questions), maybe I could see the explanatory power (as opposed simply to the ideological power) of the idea.
Any and all suggestions (including pointing out that even my preliminary understanding is hopelessly confused) would be great appreciated. Although I would prefer if belaborings of my ignorance would take place offlist.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com
The less I know, the more I get to learn and the more often I get to have the Aha! experience. So ignorance *is* bliss. __________________________________________________________________________