MLM 54 - Political Development of U.S. Labor Market Policy* *NOT ESTABLISHED*

Faculty
Stephen Amberg

Course Coordinator
Merete Borch

No specific requirements. Some prior knowledge of US society would be an advantage.

The course is about the political development of labor market policy in the United States. It will analyze changing policies about job creation, job quality, job access, and income security in the United States as the U.S. made a transition from essentially a closed labor market until the 1980’s to one which has become increasingly internationalized. The course takes a political and institutional construction approach to the topic. The comparative study of labor market performance has evolved toward new appreciation of the endogenous sources of institutional change which include social learning and political leadership. American political studies have recast historical U.S. policy-making to highlight the creative redirection of institutions. This course places U.S. policy trends in the context of these analytical developments as well as the historical materials with which labor market agents have created new forms of work.

To establish a foundation for theoretically informed empirical research by revisiting U.S. labor market policy to illustrate how policy innovation may variously link national political culture with international developments.

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:

Assessment of students will be based on a paper of 10 pages, the topic of which will be the student’s choice from recommendations from the instructor, due no earlier than one week after the last class meeting.