Economics Research Idea Help

[ItalianFX]

I have an Economics of Human Resources class that I have to write a 6-page research paper on by the end of the semester. I need a topic that deals with Human Resources in some way.

Ideas on a sheet that were given to us include:

Discrimination in education and employment
Causes of Poverty
The Rust Belt: impact of the decline of manufacturing
The threat of terrorism on labor markets
The distribution of income and wealth
The need for health care reform
Impact of illegal immigrants on border states

I can pick anything, but those were just examples.

I was thinking about doing something on the distribution of income/wealth on smaller populated areas, but I'm shying away from that right now.

I'm interested in health care and crime. Crime prevention was another topic that was listed, but I really have no clue. I was also thinking about doing something that dealt with the health insurance problem in the US. Does that even have anything to do with human resources?

Anyways, does anybody have any ideas? I need the idea by 12:30pm EST on Thursday.

Thanks.

[Thremp]

Free Market Kidneys

Just copy the papers from the dudes at Auburn.

[1aguilas]

impact of illegal immigrants on the economy would be interesting

[ItalianFX]

So far, I've been throwing around some ideas and I have come up with:

- distribution of incomes among citizens of smaller populated areas
- health care reform
- are sports athletes paid too much?
- distribution of incomes among wage earners and professional athletes
- the cost of jobs during wars
- is gambling a big deal?
- the real estate bubble
- creating economic well-being in a depressed economy
- gov't subsidized healthcare
- salary differences among business structure levels (hierarchy - corporations)

[wstaffor]

I wrote a short paper during my Econ MA about the income effect on physician labor supply. Basically discussing how lower salaries leads to a lower willingness to work hours (which seems obvious, but still needs to be proven empirically). Considering all the pushes lately to socialize health care/lower doctor salaries, that might be a timely topic. I haven't thought about it in some time, but a paper I remember using substantially was "Physician labor supply: Do income effects matter?" by Rizzo and Blumenthal from the Journal of Health Econ. That might be a good place to start.

I'm not sure what level class this is. If you want an idea for something a little more basic let me know and I'll see what I can think up.

[ItalianFX]

[ QUOTE ]
I wrote a short paper during my Econ MA about the income effect on physician labor supply. Basically discussing how lower salaries leads to a lower willingness to work hours (which seems obvious, but still needs to be proven empirically). Considering all the pushes lately to socialize health care/lower doctor salaries, that might be a timely topic. I haven't thought about it in some time, but a paper I remember using substantially was "Physician labor supply: Do income effects matter?" by Rizzo and Blumenthal from the Journal of Health Econ. That might be a good place to start.

I'm not sure what level class this is. If you want an idea for something a little more basic let me know and I'll see what I can think up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, that sounds very useful. I'm interested in health care because my g/f just started medical school and she is into the reform of the health care system. She has told me about how eventually gov't is going to subsidize health care causing physicians to earn less.

This class is called Economics of Human Resources, ECON 373. It is a writing intensive class.

The research paper must be related to Human Resources in some way.

Any other help to lead me in any direction is appreciated.

[calmB4storm]

Why do nurses always seem to be in such short supply?

[ItalianFX]

I just talked to my g/f and she gave me the idea of:

The impact of public health on the lower socioeconomic class

or

The impact of public health on the uninsured.



On the idea list, there is Crime Prevention. I just don't know how to relate crime prevention to human resources. Ideas?

[LetItBe]

[ QUOTE ]
On the idea list, there is Crime Prevention. I just don't know how to relate crime prevention to human resources. Ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's Econ...just assume that it does!

[BigPoppa]

The effect of rising/falling unemployment on crime.
The effect of rising/falling general wages on crime.
The effect of rising/falling wage disparities on crime.