Assignment: Depicting the supply and demand for farm labor multiple farm labor markets
You can access the film at: youtube
These questions are worth a maximum of 20 points each. Feel free to discuss in study groups; however, you must write your answers independently. No two assignments should be alike!
1. Draw a graph depicting the supply and demand for farm labor multiple farm labor markets, linked by migration. To simplify things, do this for two adjacent farm labor markets. Briefly explain where the demand and supply curves come from, and explain the meaning of the equilibrium price and quantity in this figure.
2. Propose a mover-stayer model to depict the migration decisions of seasonal farm workers featured in Harvest of Shame. Please use your theoretical model to explain why these workers participate in seasonal farm labor migration, despite the obvious hardships they face. Use quotes and excerpts from the film to back up youranalysis.
3. The interviewer asks Charles Schuman, President of the American Farm Labor Bureau (AFBF; 39:25), why the AFBF opposes federal legislation to protect farm workers. He also discusses this with Senator Williams, Chair of Subcommittee on Migratory Labor. What is the case for federal versus state farm worker welfare legislation in the context of your linked labor-market model? (Hint: Imagine your two farm labor markets being in different states.)
Current farm worker protections are available at the websites of the U.S. Department of Labor and Farmworker Justice.
1. Murrow says (29:20) "the best hope for the future of the migrants lies in the education of their children." How would expanded educational opportunities for migrant farmworker children affect the farm labor markets depicted in your figures-in the short run and in the long run? How would an increase in schooling affect farm labor-supply decisions depicted in your mover-stayer model? Based on your analysis, is educating migrants' children a solution to the migrant farm labor problem?
2. What is Murrows' view on the impacts of immigration in western states' farm labor markets? Use your model to show how immigration may alter the equilibrium outcome in two or more migration-linked farm labor markets. Do you agree with Murrow's perception (22:17) of the impacts of immigration in the California farm labor market at the time the film aired? Are the impacts today different? For both of these questions, explain briefly why or why not.
Attachment:- Resource.rar