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Institutional Aspects of High Unemployment in the Federal Republic of Germany

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Michael C. Burda
Jeffrey D. Sachs

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Abstract

The sustained rise in German unemployment since 1973 poses a problem of critical importance for the world economy. Fewer than two decades ago, Germany boasted an average unemployment rate of under 1% and imported labor to relieve chronic labor shortages. By the mid-1980s, unemployment had risen to over 8 percent of the labor force. This paper investigates some of the reasons for the secular rise in unemployment. We find that while deficient aggregate demand can probably explain some of the current joblessness, the secular rise in unemployment has consisted primarily of an increase in the equilibrium rate of unemployment. We also find little evidence that this increase is due to changes in frictional unemployment. Rather, after reviewing institutional details of the labor market in Germany, we identify various impediments to the kinds of structural adjustments that have operated to maintain a fairly constant equilibrium rate of unemployment in the United States.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 2241.

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Date of creation: May 1987
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2241

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  1. McCallum, John, 1985. " Wage Gaps, Factor Shares and Real Wages," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 87(2), pages 436-59.
  2. Sargent, Thomas J, 1971. "A Note on the 'Accelerationist' Controversy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 3(3), pages 721-25, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1978. "Unemployment Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 353-57, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Michael Burda, 1988. "Is there a capital shortage in Europe?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 38-57, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Stock, James H, 1987. "Asymptotic Properties of Least Squares Estimators of Cointegrating Vectors," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(5), pages 1035-56, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Olivier J. Blanchard & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "Hysteresis and the European Unemployment Problem," Working papers 427, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
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  7. Jackman, R & Layard, Richard & Pissarides, C, 1989. "On Vacancies," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 51(4), pages 377-94, November.
  8. Lilien, David M, 1982. "Sectoral Shifts and Cyclical Unemployment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(4), pages 777-93, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. David T. Coe & Francesco Gagliardi, 1985. "Nominal Wage Determination in Ten OECD Economies," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 19, OECD, Economics Department. [Downloadable!]
  10. McDonald, Ian M & Solow, Robert M, 1981. "Wage Bargaining and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 896-908, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Oswald, Andrew J, 1982. "The Microeconomic Theory of the Trade Union," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(367), pages 576-95, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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