Question

Scenario 19-6 The after-school tutoring industry is competitive, and so is the labor market for after-school tutors. Suppose male and female tutors have equal experience and skill. Currently, some tutoring centers are biased and will only hire male tutors, while unbiased tutoring centers desire to hire the cheapest tutors and do not care about their genders. As a result, the equilibrium wage for male tutors is higher than that of female tutors. efer to Scenario 19-6. If some families strongly prefer their children to be tutored by male tutors, then a the difference in male and female tutor wages will eventually disappear b. biased tutoring centers can charge more for tutoring to offset the higher cost of hiring only male tutors c. all unbiased tutoring centers will go out of business in the long run. d. all biased tutoring centers will make a profit in the short run, but will go out of business the lon bo

Answer 1

If families strongly prefer male tutors, the difference in male and female tutor wages will eventually disappear due to increased demand for male tutors.

In this scenario:

a. The difference in male and female tutor wages will eventually disappear

If families strongly prefer their children to be tutored by male tutors, the demand for male tutors would increase. As a result, the biased tutoring centers that only hire male tutors would face a higher demand for their services. This increased demand would drive up the wages for male tutors.

As the wages for male tutors rise, it becomes more costly for the biased tutoring centers to hire only male tutors. Eventually, this higher cost would incentivize these centers to consider hiring female tutors as well, aiming to reduce their overall labor costs.

Thus, over time, the increased demand for male tutors and the associated rise in wages would lead biased tutoring centers to reconsider their hiring practices, aiming to level out the difference in wages between male and female tutors.

Answer 2

If some families strongly prefer their children to be tutored by male tutors, then a. the difference in male and female tutor wages will eventually disappear.

What would be the case?

We can conclude that in the presence of strong family preferences for male tutors, the demand for male tutors will increase, leading to an increase in their wages.

This increase in wages will continue until the supply of male tutors increases enough to meet the increased demand. At this point, the wages of male and female tutors will converge. So, option A best describes the result of the families' preferences.