1 Suppose that a school district pays all high school teachers with the same yea

Question

1 Suppose that a school district pays all high school teachers with the same years of experience the same salary, regardless of teaching field, and that this produces a surplus of History and English teachers, and a shortage of Science and Math teachers. Would this create a case for salary differentials? (Think of what causes shortage/surplus)

2) How could the problem of concurrent surplus and shortage be solved without paying Science and Math teachers more than History and English teachers?

3) Why has the policy of identical wages in fact produced shortages of Science and Math teachers, along with surpluses of History and English teachers in many school districts? What factors have contributed on the demand side? On the suppy side?

Explanation / Answer

1. Suppose the demand for the English teachers, Maths teachers, Science teachers, and Math teachers is identical. Suppose the supply of English teachers and History teachers is indentical. Suppose supply of maths and science teachers is identical. Suppose the supply of Maths or Science teachers is less than the supply of English and Hindi teachers. Now the given scenario may be graphically illustrated as follows:

Here, the identical salary is s1, which lies below the market clearing salary of science and maths teachers and above the market clearing salary of English and History teachers. The quantity supplied Q11 of Maths or Science teachers is less than the quantity demanded Q1 of Maths and Science teachers. The quantity supplied Q12 of English or History teachers is more than the quantity demanded Q1 of English or History teachers.

2. The problem of concurrent surlus can be solved at the identical salary only if all the types of teachers have identical supply curves. Goverment programs that leads prospective teachers to aim becoming Science and Maths teachers can solve the problem.

3. In the case illustrated in the figure above, it is because the supply of science and maths teachers is less than the supply of English and Hindi teachers. Another case can be build where the problem has arised because the demand for Science and Maths teachers is higher than the demand for History and English teachers. A yet another case can be build where it is because of both the reasons: (i) the supply of science and maths teachers is less than the supply of English and Hindi teachers, and (ii) the demand for Science and Maths teachers is higher than the demand for History and English teachers.

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