Tight Labor Markets and the Demand for Education

Project Description:   During the 1970s, regulatory changes and the OPEC oil embargo drove up the price of coal and generated an enormous boom in the coal economy.  There was a tremendous infusion of high-paying jobs for low-skilled coal miners into localities with coal reserves as new mines were opened and existing ones were expanded.  The coal industry generated record-level earnings for more than a decade. Starting in 1983, the boom reversed into a bust, and earnings levels returned to below their pre-boom level.  This project will study the effect of a boom and bust in the coal industry during the 1970s and 1980s on high school enrollment.  Shocks to the coal industry were long-term shocks, lasting for extended periods of time.  In contrast, the farmers of the Great Plains have frequent shocks to their earnings resulting from temporary changes in the weather.  Economic theory suggests that these sort of temporary shocks should have a much smaller impact on the high school enrollment rate than the longer-term shocks from the coal industry.

Student Roles/Responsibilities:  The student will play important roles in collection of the relevant data, data management, and performing data analysis.  The student will be responsible for preparing raw data into a form that can be used in estimation and merging the data into existing data sets.  The student will then have the opportunity to perform intermediate-level data analysis, including ordinary-least-squares regression and hypothesis testing.

Minimun Qualifications:  The student must have a background in economic theory and have experience with spreadsheet programs, such as MS Excel.  The student will also need an interest in learning data processing techniques and have an aptitude for computer work.

 Sponsor:  Professor Dan A. Black; CPR, 426 Eggers Hall; ext. 9040; e-mail:  dablac01@maxwell.syr.edu