IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/revpoe/v12y2000i3p317-332.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Restrictive Macroeconomic Policies and Unemployment in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Marc Lombard

Abstract

This paper looks at the impact the European integration process has had on the unemployment level of European Union member countries. While the persistence of relatively high unemployment in Europe is often attributed to supply-side factors, such as the rigidities of the labour market, this study contends that the major cause for the rise of unemployment in the EU has been the very macroeconomic policies of the EU itself. The paper argues that the continuous pursuit of deflationary policies and the macroeconomic constraint imposed first by the membership of the European Monetary System and, secondly, by the convergence criteria of the Maastricht Treaty, have been the real impediments to reducing unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Lombard, 2000. "Restrictive Macroeconomic Policies and Unemployment in the European Union," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 317-332.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:12:y:2000:i:3:p:317-332
    DOI: 10.1080/09538250050127481
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09538250050127481
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09538250050127481?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul R. Krugman, 1994. "Past and prospective causes of high unemployment," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Jan, pages 49-98.
    2. William Vickrey, 2004. "Meaningfully Defining Deficits and Debt," Chapters, in: Mathew Forstater & Pavlina R. Tcherneva (ed.), Full Employment and Price Stability, chapter 4, pages 27-32, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Eisner, Robert, 1989. "Divergences of Measurement and Theory and Some Implications for Economic Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 1-13, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hartwig, Jochen, 2015. "Structural change, aggregate demand and employment dynamics in the OECD, 1970–2010," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 36-45.
    2. Truger, Achim & Hein, Eckhard, 2004. "Macroeconomic co-ordination as an economic policy concept : opportunities and obstacles in the EMU," WSI Working Papers 125, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    3. Truger, Achim & Welzmüller, Rudolf (ed.), 2002. "Chancen der Währungsunion nutzen - koordinierte Politik für Beschäftigung und moderne Infrastruktur: Dokumentation des gemeinsamen Workshops von Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichem Institut in d," Study / edition der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, volume 64, number 64.
    4. Hein, Eckhard & Truger, Achim, 2002. "European Monetary Union: Nominal convergence, real divergence and slow growth? An investigation into the effects of changing macroeconomic policy institutions associated with monetary union," WSI Working Papers 107, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    5. Eckhard Hein, 2002. "Monetary policy and wage bargaining in the EMU: restrictive ECB policies, high unemployment, nominal wage restraint and inflation above the target," Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 55(222), pages 299-337.
    6. Baskaran, Thushyanthan, 2009. "Did the Maastricht treaty matter for macroeconomic performance?," MPRA Paper 30106, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Hein, Eckhard & Truger, Achim, 2005. "European Monetary Union: nominal convergence, real divergence and slow growth?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 7-33, March.
    8. Thushyanthan Baskaran, 2009. "Did the Maastricht treaty matter for macroeconomic performance? A difference‐in‐difference investigation," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 331-358, August.
    9. Binotti, Annetta Maria & Ghiani, Enrico, 2008. "Changes in aggregate supply conditions in Italy: A small econometric model and its policy implications," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1017-1039.
    10. Marc Lombard, 2009. "Economic Welfare Comparisons: Australia, the United States and the European Union," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 28(2), pages 139-147, June.
    11. Altman, Morris, 2006. "Involuntary unemployment, macroeconomic policy, and a behavioral model of the firm: Why high real wages need not cause high unemployment," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 97-111, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Huber & Helmut Hofer, 2001. "Teilprojekt 9: Auswirkungen der EU-Erweiterung auf den österreichischen Arbeitsmarkt," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 19839, February.
    2. Brown, Alessio J.G. & Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2011. "Comparing the effectiveness of employment subsidies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 168-179, April.
    3. Josef Falkinger & Volker Grossmann, 2003. "Workplaces in the Primary Economy and Wage Pressure in the Secondary Labor Market," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 159(3), pages 523-544, September.
    4. Mario Reinhold & Stephan Thomsen, 2017. "The changing situation of labor market entrants in Germany [Die veränderliche Situation für Berufseinsteiger in Deutschland]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 50(1), pages 161-174, August.
    5. Wallenius, Johanna, 2022. "R(a)ising employment of older individuals," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    6. Patrick A. Puhani, 2000. "On the Identification of Relative Wage Rigidity Dynamics," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 343, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    7. Kitchen, John & Orden, David, 1991. "Effects of Fiscal Policy on Agriculture and the Rural Economy," Staff Reports 278556, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    8. Marc Lombard, 1994. "Sources Of Unemployment: Reality And Myths —A Reply To “The Sources Of Unemployment: A Simple Econometric Analysis”," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 13(2), pages 93-96, June.
    9. Patrick Puhani, 2004. "The European Labour Markets - Differences in Labour Markets Across the Atlantic," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 5(1), pages 12-18, October.
    10. Wolf-Heimo Grieben, 2006. "Globalization with Labor Market Frictions and Non-Scale Growth," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_053, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    11. Ammermueller, Andreas & Kuckulenz, Anja & Zwick, Thomas, 2009. "Aggregate unemployment decreases individual returns to education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 217-226, April.
    12. Gavrel, Frédéric & Lebon, Isabelle, 2009. "Endogenous job specialization," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 328-334, March.
    13. Puhani, Patrick A., 2001. "Wage rigidities in Western Germany? Microeconometric evidence from the 1990s," ZEW Discussion Papers 01-36, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Heblich, Stephan, 2007. "Eigenverantwortliche Individuen und Pro-Aktive Unternehmen," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-48-07, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    15. Gersbach, Hans & Schniewind, Achim, 2001. "Awareness of General Equilibrium Effects and Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 394, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Olivier Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1997. "What We Know and Do Not Know about the Natural Rate of Unemployment," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 51-72, Winter.
    17. Thomsen, Stephan L, 2018. "Die Rolle der Computerisierung und Digitalisierung für Beschäftigung und Einkommen," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-645, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    18. Schank, Thorsten, 2003. "Die Beschäftigung von Un- und Angelernten : eine Analyse mit dem Linked Employer-Employee Datensatz des IAB (Employment of unskilled and semi-skilled workers * an analysis based on the IAB Linked Empl," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 36(3), pages 257-270.
    19. Arnaud Lefranc, 1997. "Salaires relatifs et chômage : une analyse comparative France / Etats-Unis," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 48(5), pages 1041-1060.
    20. James Albrecht & Susan Vroman, 2002. "A Matching Model with Endogenous Skill Requirements," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(1), pages 283-305, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:12:y:2000:i:3:p:317-332. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CRPE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.