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Testing for asymmetry in Okun's law: A cross-country comparison

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  • Brian Silverstone

    () (University of Waikato)

  • Richard Harris

    () (University of Durham)

Abstract

Most specifications of Okun's law assume a symmetric relationship between changes in unemployment and real output. We test this assumption for seven OECD countries (Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States). We find that failure to take account of asymmetries would see a rejection of the hypothesis that there exists a long-run relationship between unemployment and output in countries such as the United States and New Zealand. We also find that short-run output and unemployment adjustments to disequilibrium usually differ according to whether up-turns or down-turns in the business cycle are considered. These results could not have been obtained using standard estimates of Okun''s law based on a symmetric approach.

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File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/EB/2001/Volume5/EB-01E00001A.pdf
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by AccessEcon in its journal Economics Bulletin.

Volume (Year): 5 (2001)
Issue (Month): 2 ()
Pages: 1-13

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Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-01e00001

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Cited by:
  1. KAMGNIA, Dia B., 2009. "Growth Intensity Of Employment In Africa: A Panel Data Approach," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 9(2).
  2. Kwami Adanu, 2005. "A cross-province comparison of Okun's coefficient for Canada," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 37(5), pages 561-570.
  3. Oliver Hutengs & Georg Stadtmann, 2012. "Age Effects in the Okun's Law within the Eurozone," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1243, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
  4. Giovanni BUSETTA & Dario CORSO, 2008. "La legge di Okun: asimmetrie e differenziali territoriali in Italia," Working Papers 320, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
  5. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:5:y:2008:i:33:p:1-14 is not listed on IDEAS
  6. Julien Fouquau, 2008. "Threshold effects in Okun's Law: a panel data analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 5(33), pages 1-14.
  7. Roger Perman & Christophe Tavera, 2007. "Testing for convergence of the Okun’s Law coefficient in Europe," Empirica, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 45-61, March.
  8. Mark J. Holmes & Brian Silverstone, 2005. "Okun's Law, Asymmetries and Jobless Recoveries in the United States: A Markov-Switching Approach," Working Papers in Economics 05/06, University of Waikato, Department of Economics.
  9. Ian H.K. Leow, 2004. "A Simple Dynamic Model of Big-push," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 218, Econometric Society.
  10. Hoover, Gary A. & Giedeman, Daniel C. & Dibooglu, Sel, 2009. "Income inequality and the business cycle: A threshold cointegration approach," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 278-292, September.
  11. PERUGINI, Cristiano, 2009. "Employment Intensity Of Growth In Italy. A Note Using Regional Data," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 9(1).
  12. Roger Perman & Christophe Tavera, 2005. "A cross-country analysis of the Okun's Law coefficient convergence in Europe," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 37(21), pages 2501-2513.
  13. Hutengs, Oliver & Stadtmann, Georg, 2012. "Age effects in the Okun's law within the Eurozone," Discussion Papers 322, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Department of Business Administration and Economics.
  14. Mendonca, Gui Pedro, 2008. "Structural Breaks, Regime Change and Asymmetric Adjustment: A Short and Long Run Global Approach to the Output/Unemployment Dynamics," MPRA Paper 14648, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  15. Cazes, Sandrine & Verick, Sher & Al Hussami, Fares, 2011. "Diverging trends in unemployment in the United States and Europe : evidence from Okun's law and the global financial crisis," ILO Working Papers 467629, International Labour Organization.
  16. Oberst, Christian & Oelgemöller, Jens, 2013. "Economic Growth and Regional Labor Market Development in German Regions: Okun’s Law in a Spatial Context," FCN Working Papers 5/2013, E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN).

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