Japan's Labor Market

Spring 2007

Syllabus

2007/07/03

Ryoichi Imai

International Student Center, Kyushu University

imryoichi@isc.kyushu-u.ac.jp

http://homepage3.nifty.com/ronten/JTWhome.htm

Contents

1. Course Outline

2. Organization, Attendance, and Other Requirements

3. Pre-requisites

4. Assessment Details

5. Schedule and Readings

Course Outline

In this course we will focus on the recent changes in Japan's labor market. We discuss the "Inequality and Poverty", which is the hottest issues in mass media and policy discussions.

Organization, Attendance, and Other Requirements

We will read two representative books:

Rebick, Marcus (2005), The Japanese Employment System, Oxford UP.

Tachibanaki, Toshiaki (2006), Confronting Income Inequality in Japan. MIT Press.

We will not read all the chapters of those books. Some selected chapters will be presented by students.

Lecture notes are to be provided by the instructor.

The class starts with a series of lecture given by the instructor. Later the students present some selected reading materials. Each course attendant is required to do at least ONE oral presentation of the articles. The presenter must make a set of PowerPoint Slides.

Pre-requisites

Knowledge of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics at undergraduate level.

Assessment Details

Class Attendance and Discussion 10%

Presentation 50%

Final Examination 40%

Schedule and Readings (subject to Change)

Class 1-4: Lecture

Class 1 (4/3). Introduction

Rebick: Ch. 1

Class 2 (4/10). The Japanese Employment System

Rebick: Ch. 2

Class 3 (4/17). Rising Higher Income Inequality in Japan and Elsewhere - 1

Class 4 (4/24). Rising Higher Income Inequality in Japan and Elsewhere - 2

Tachibanaki: Ch. 1

Class 5-14: Students' Presentations and Class Discussions

Class 5 (5/1). Changes to the Employment and Treatment of Regular Employees (Rebick: Ch. 3)

Jun

Class 6 (5/8). The Growth in Non-standard Employment Relations ( Rebick: Ch. 4)

Keny

Class 7 (5/15). Industrial Relations. (Rebick: Ch. 5)

Michael

Class 8 (5/22). Rising Unemployment and Inequality (Rebick: Ch.6)

Imai

Class 9 (5/29): Women in the Labor Market (Rebick: Ch. 7)

Natalie:

Class 10 (6/5): Middle-aged and older workers (Rebick: Ch. 8)

Gahyun

Class 11 (6/12). The Labor Market for Youth (Rebick: Ch. 9)

Mack

Class 12 (6/19): The Declining Labor Force and Immigration (Rebick: Ch. 10)

Qing Zhang

Class 13 (6/26): History of Income Distribution in Postwar Japan (Tachibanaki: Ch. 2)

Gahyun and Jun

Class 14 (7/3): The Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market (Autor, Katz, and Kearney)

Imai

Class 15 (7/10): Final Examination

sample questions