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And what do we know
about that?
Well, this is probably the major
focus of a field we call
labor economics.
And there's an excellent course
on labor economics,
14.64 taught by Josh Angrist,
which goes into much detail in
the entire field.
But one of the main focuses of
the field is understanding the
elasticity of labor supply,
and is it positive or
negative, and how big is it.
So, basically, measuring the
slope of the labor supply
curve is the focus of this
literature, the elasticity of
the labor supply.
Now, what I want to do is start
with a historical fact,
and then I'll come to
the modern age.
Let's think about
30 years ago.
30 years ago, all men
worked and less than
half of women worked.
It was more normal for women
not to work than to work,
married women.
I'm sorry.
Less than half of married
women worked.
Now, married women could work.
I'm not talking 60 years ago
or 80 years ago when there
were marriage bars.
Literally, firms wouldn't hire
you if you were married.
It's true.
If you're interested in
that, you can actually
read Claudia Goldin.
She's a labor historian who's
written about the early 20th
century when, literally,
women could be
fired for being married.
We're not talking
about that era.
I'm talking about 30 years ago
when you could work if you
were married.
It's no problem.
But most women chose not to,
maybe 40 years ago now.
So, in that case, let's think
about two groups.
Let's think about married
men, and let's think