Consider the Labor Market for Computer Programmers

question 262

Multiple Choice

Consider the labor market for computer programmers. Because of the dot.com boom in the late 1990s, a lot of workers went to school to learn how to write computer code for one of thousands of new dot.com companies. However, when these computer programming students graduated, the dot.com bust took place. The dot.com bust decreased the value of the marginal product of computer programmers. Holding all else equal, what effect did these two circumstances have on the equilibrium wage in the labor market for computer programmers?

• A)The equilibrium wage increased.
• B)The equilibrium wage decreased.
• C)The equilibrium wage did not change.
• D)It is not possible to determine what happens to the equilibrium wage.

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Definitions:

Methanogens

Microbes that generate methane during their metabolism in environments lacking oxygen.

Vector

An organism, often an insect, that transmits a disease or parasite from one animal or plant to another.

Pathogen

Disease-causing agent (virus or cellular organism).