Assignment

by | Apr 7, 2018 | Main

 

WAGE DIFFERENTIALS, PART 1 (20 points in this section)
A. Suppose all workers have the same preferences represented by the utility function

U = W^(1/2) + S,
Where W is the wage rate and S is a measure of on the job safety. Suppose there are only two types of jobs in the economy: (1) a “safe” job (S=1) and a “dangerous” job (S=0). Let Ws be the wage rate in the “safe” job. Let WD be the wage rate in the “dangerous” job. If “safe” jobs pay $25 per hour, then what is the wage rate in the “dangerous” jobs? Demonstrate and explain. Is there a compensating wage differential? If so, how big is it? Demonstrate and explain. If not, explain why not. (8 points)

B. Now suppose worker preferences change to

U = W1/2 + 2S
Characterize what has happened to worker preferences. Suppose “safe” jobs still pay $25 per hour. What – if anything – becomes of the wage in “dangerous” jobs? Demonstrate and explain. What – if anything – becomes of the compensating wage differential? Demonstrate and explain (12 points)

WAGE DIFFERENTIALS, PART 2. (30 points in section)
Over a decade ago The Economist noted (“Pop, Crackle, Snap,” April 3, 2004). “Even desperate job seekers think twice about accepting hazardous work such as coal mining, cow slaughtering or cleaning up asbestos sites.” Suppose employers are able to provide different combinations of wages and job safety. Suppose individuals have different tastes for wages and safety.
Draw and identify the different worker’s indifferences curves for wages and safety. Explain which curve(s) represents which worker. (5 points)

Draw and identify the different firms isoprofit curves for wages and salary. Explain which curve(s) represents which firm. (5 points)

C. Given your answers in Parts A and B above, use suitable economic analysis to demonstrate whether or not people can be persuaded to do dangerous work. (10 points)

D. Aside from safety, what other factors that can result in equilibrium wage differentials? Explain how each factor can be expected to affect pay. (10 points)

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION. (20 points in section)
A. Suppose there are two types of workers. Type A and Type B. Suppose the market wage for Type A workers is $20 while the wage for Type B workers is $16. Moreover, there are only 30 Type B persons in the labor pool, the rest of the labor supply consists of Type A persons. Furthermore, firms differ only with respect to their tendencies to be prejudiced about Type B workers. Suppose a firm sells output in a competitive market at a price of $4 per unit of output, recons it should produce 100 units of output, and faces the following production function:
Q = 5LA + 5LB
where Q is output, LA is the number of type A workers, and LB is the number of type B workers.

1. Are type A workers more productive than Type B workers? Demonstrate and explain (5 points)

2. Suppose Atlas Manufacturing Co seeks to minimize cost. How many workers of each type would it hire? Demonstrate and explain (5 points)

3. Suppose Ajax Enterprises exhibits a discrimination coefficient of 4. How many workers of each type would it hire? Demonstrate and explain (5 points)

4. Suppose Hidebound Industries exhibits a discrimination coefficient of 6. How many workers of each type would it hire? Demonstrate and explain. (5 points)

LABOR MARKET DISCRIMINATION? (30 points in section)
Suppose an employer cannot know your true productivity but can observe a “credential” that is correlated – imperfectly – with your productivity. Do you want the credential to be as informative as possible or “noisy”? Demonstrate and explain (10 points)

Suppose there are type types of workers, type 1 and type 2. Suppose schooling, S, and job experience, Exp, are factors that affect monthly pay, W. Specifically, suppose the earnings equation of type 1 and type 2 persons are given by:

W1 = 2,000 + 100S1 + 400 Exp1 & W2 = 1,900 +110S2 + 300Exp2

1. Show how much of any wage gap can be explained and how much of the gap may be due to discrimination.

2. Without doing any computations at all, can you tell if there is any pay discrimination going on? If so, who is favored? Demonstrate and explain.

3. Suppose type 1 workers average 10 years of schooling and type 2 workers average 15 years of schooling. Further, suppose type 1 workers average 20 years of job experience while type 2 workers average 10 years of job experience. Is most of the earnings gap due to discrimination or can most of it be explained? Demonstrate.

Sample Solution

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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