Economics Of Unemployment

First published in 1987. Unemployment is currently the major economic concern in developed economies. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the economics of unemployment. It concentrates on theories of the labour market and examines the critical inter-relationships with the rest of the economy. It provides a thorough evaluation of theory and extensive consideration of the relevant empirical evidence. It emphasises the multi-causal nature of unemployment and concludes that policy-makers should respond with a multi-faceted mix of policies.

The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labour force, which includes both the unemployed and those with jobs (all those willing and able to work for pay). In practice, measuring the number of unemployed workers actually seeking work is notoriously difficult. There are several different methods for measuring the number of unemployed workers. Each method has its own biases and the different systems make comparing unemployment statistics between countries, especially those with different systems, difficult. This book brings together diverse new research on this important area of economics.

This book discusses unemployment and its relations to economic, political and social aspects. The first chapter studies the relationship of unemployment to the level of confidence that characterizes some macroeconomic relevant agents, such as consumers or investors. Chapter Two investigates the effects of productivity growth shocks on unemployment, both in the short run and in the medium - long run. Chapter Three reviews finite sample inference for unemployment-inflation tradeoff. Chapter Four focuses on understanding how the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and/or long-term labor market changes may have separately or jointly affected health among employed workers in 2010. Chapter Five evaluates the persistence of the unemployment rate in the following emerging European countries: Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Cyprus, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Chapter Six discusses the case of election results on the political aspects of unemployment. Chapter Seven studies the relationship between unemployment and the (individual) perceived levels of well-being, such as life satisfaction or happiness. Chapter Eight assesses the association between homelessness and survival in a population of unemployed individuals in one region of northern Poland. Chapter Nine studies the impact that educational level and vocational training programmes had on the labour market of semi-peripheral EU countries, using Greece as a case study. Chapter Ten estimates the effects of area unemployment rate on smoking and drinking in China.

First published in 'The Review of Economic Studies' and 'Oxford Economic Papers', these essays consider the natural rate of unemployment, and attempt to explain its determinants within different frameworks.

Contains 168 alphabetically arranged essays that provide information about topics related to economics, and includes biographical profiles of nearly one hundred noted economists.

The problems and issues of unemployment are given comprehensive coverage through discussions of measurement, theory and policy which are backed up with empirical evidence drawn from postwar experience in the United States and the United Kingdom.