Week 13 Discussion — Who Should Set the Terms of Work? Unions, Gig Apps, and the Hiring Rule — Traditional alternative (no AI)

Instructors: publish this instead of the adaptive version if you prefer, and unpublish or delete the adaptive one.

Hook

This week's model says a firm hires while a worker's value is at least the wage, and that a job's pay also reflects the hours and risks it asks people to accept. Two live debates turn on those ideas: whether unions that bargain for higher pay help workers on balance, and whether flexible app-based gig work is a fair deal for the people who do it.

Your discussion question — choose Option A or Option B; they carry the same weight and the same rubric, and you say which you picked.

Option A: In the course's illustrative bakery, bread sells for 4 dollars a loaf and each worker's value of the marginal product is 40, 60, 80, 60, 40, and 20 dollars a day. At a 30-dollar wage the bakery hires 5 workers; at a 50-dollar wage it hires 4. Suppose the bakery's workers form a union and bargain the wage up from 30 to 50 dollars a day. Supporters of unions argue that higher pay and a stronger voice over hours and safety are worth winning. Critics argue that a wage above the market wage means fewer jobs, as the bakery's hiring rule predicts. Would you support the union's push for the higher wage, and why? Keep your positive claims (what the model predicts or a study could test) apart from your normative ones (what ought to happen).

Option B: Think about app-based gig work you know, such as delivering food, driving riders, or doing small tasks booked through an app, where workers choose their own hours. One view holds that the flexibility is a real benefit some workers value, so they may accept less steady pay in exchange for control over their time, much as a compensating differential works in reverse. Another view holds that gig workers often go without the benefits and steady hours that employees receive. Is gig work a fair deal for the people who do it, and what would make it fairer? Label which parts of your answer are positive claims and which are normative judgments, and say what fact would change your mind. Do not invent pay figures or statistics, and name no company; describe what you know firsthand.

There is no single right answer. Reasonable people weigh higher pay, more jobs, flexibility, and security in different ways. Pick the one you actually care about, and tell us your reasoning.

Expectations

Activity format: one initial post followed by two substantive peer replies. Plan on about 45 minutes across the two deadlines; your instructor sets both due dates in Canvas.

Your initial post — by the first due date (early in the module week):

• Say which option you chose.
• For Option A, say whether you would support the union's push, using the bakery's numbers (5 workers at a 30-dollar wage, 4 at a 50-dollar wage, because the 5th worker adds only 40 dollars); for Option B, describe the gig work you know in words and say whether it is a fair deal for the people who do it.
• Give the strongest version of the view you disagree with in one or two sentences, and say why you still hold your position or what part of the other view you accept.
• Use at least two of this week's terms (hiring rule, value of the marginal product, labor demand curve, compensating differential) correctly.
• Label at least one of your claims as positive (what the model predicts) and at least one as normative (what ought to happen).
• Length: roughly 150–250 words if written. You may instead record your post as audio or video (about two minutes) and attach a transcript; both forms are scored by the same rubric.

Your replies — by the second due date (the end of the module week):

• Reply substantively to at least two classmates.
• A substantive reply does more than agree: point out where a post compares loaves with dollars instead of the value of the marginal product with the wage, check whether a post calls a wage change a shift of labor demand rather than a movement along it, or argue the other side of the question at its strongest. "Nice point!" on its own does not count.

What a strong post looks like:

I chose Option A. The positive part: in the model, raising the wage from 30 to 50 dollars moves the bakery along its labor demand curve from 5 workers to 4, because the 5th worker adds only 40 dollars of bread, less than the new wage; the four who keep their jobs earn 20 dollars a day more. The normative part: I would support the union, because I weigh the raise for four workers more heavily than one lost job, especially if the fifth worker can find similar work nearby. The strongest objection is that the worker who loses the job bears the whole cost while others gain. I accept that, and the fact that would change my mind is how hard it is for that worker to find another job.

Notice how it uses the hiring rule with the bakery's numbers, calls the wage change a movement along labor demand, labels the positive and the normative parts, and gives the other side its strongest form. Someone who argued against the union, or about gig work, as carefully would meet the same bar.

Participation rubric

This discussion is worth 10 points. The three criteria below look at your initial post and your peer replies.

Post early if you can — the best threads happen when people have time to reply before the second due date.

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