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The Challenge of High Unemployment

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Author Info
Alan S. Blinder

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Abstract

It is argued that policymakers, macroeconomists and microeconomists should all take high unemployment more seriously. The shortcomings of existing theories of unemployment are discussed, and a new definition of involuntary unemployment is proposed. A model is sketched in which falling aggregate demand leads to "Keynesian" unemployment because labor is heterogeneous and relative wages matter. Microeconomic theory is criticized for assuming away unemployment and, in the process, radically changing the answers to some basic questions in trade theory and public finance. Finally, some speculative explanations are offered for the low unemployment now found in states like New Jersey and Massachusetts.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 2489.

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Date of creation: Dec 1988
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Publication status: published as Blinder, Alan S. "The Challenge of High Unemployment." From The American Economic Review, Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 1-15, (May 1988).
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2489

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Kiefer, Nicholas M & Neumann, George R, 1979. "An Empirical Job-Search Model, with a Test of the Constant Reservation-Wage Hypothesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(1), pages 89-107, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Blanchard, Olivier Jean & Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro, 1987. "Monopolistic Competition and the Effects of Aggregate Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 647-66, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Akerlof, George A, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 543-69, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Alan S. Blinder, 1986. "Keynes after Lucas," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 209-216, Jul-Sep. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Alan S. Blinder, 1981. "Retail Inventory Behavior and Business Fluctuations," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 12(1981-2), pages 443-520. [Downloadable!]
  6. Gordon, Robert J, 1988. "The Role of Wages in the Inflation Process," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 276-83, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "Why is the Unemployment Rate So Very High near Full Employment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 17(1986-2), pages 339-396. [Downloadable!]
  8. Akerlof, George A & Yellen, Janet L, 1990. "The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(2), pages 255-83, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Riordan, Michael H & Staiger, Robert W, 1993. "Sectoral Shocks and Structural Unemployment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(3), pages 611-29, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. 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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  11. Caplin, Andrew S & Spulber, Daniel F, 1987. "Menu Costs and the Neutrality of Money," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 703-25, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Bils, Mark J, 1985. "Real Wages over the Business Cycle: Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 666-89, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Kim B. Clark & Lawrence H. Summers, 1979. "Labor Market Dynamics and Unemployment: A Reconsideration," NBER Reprints 0019, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  14. Mankiw, N Gregory, 1985. "Small Menu Costs and Large Business Cycles: A Macroeconomic Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 529-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Avner Bar-Ilan & Alan S. Blinder, 1987. "Consumer Durables and the Optimality of Usually Doing Nothing," NBER Working Papers 2488, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Brecher, Richard A, 1974. "Minimum Wage Rates and the Pure Theory of International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 88(1), pages 98-116, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Hamermesh, Daniel S, 1980. "Factor Market Dynamics and the Incidence of Taxes and Subsidies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 751-64, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Akerlof, George A & Yellen, Janet L, 1985. "A Near-rational Model of the Business Cycle, with Wage and Price Intertia," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 100(5), pages 823-38, Supp.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Poterba, James M & Rotemberg, Julio J & Summers, Lawrence H, 1986. "A Tax-Based Test for Nominal Rigidities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 659-75, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. Altonji, Joseph & Ashenfelter, Orley, 1980. "Wage Movements and the Labour Market Equilibrium Hypothesis," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 47(187), pages 217-45, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Olivier J. Blanchard, 1987. "Why Does Money Affect Output? A Survey," Working papers 453, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
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  22. Geary, Patrick T & Kennan, John, 1982. "The Employment-Real Wage Relationship: An International Study," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(4), pages 854-71, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Dixit, Avinash, 1976. "Public finance in a Keynesian temporary equilibrium," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 242-258, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Lawrence H. Summers, 1987. "Why is the Unemployment Rate So Very High Near Full Employment?"," NBER Reprints 0838, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. David Levine, 1991. "You Get What You Pay For: Tests of Efficency Wage Theories in the United States and Japan," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series 1054, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley. [Downloadable!]
  2. Goerke, Laszlo, 2001. "Tax Evasion in a Unionised Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 382, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Mierlo,J.G.A.,van, 1996. "The experience of OECD countries with public management reform and its relevance to Central and Eastern Europe," Research Memoranda 021, Maastricht : METEOR, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization. [Downloadable!]
  4. Jean-Robert Tyran & Arno Riedl, 2003. "Tax Liability Side Equivalence in Gift-Exchange Labor Markets," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2003 2003-15, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Mathias, HUNGERBUEHLER, 2004. "Tax Progression in Imperfect Labour Markets : A Survey," Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) Discussion Paper 2004032, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES). [Downloadable!]
  6. Brian Snowdon, 2007. "The New Classical Counter-Revolution: False Path or Illuminating Complement?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 541-562, Fall. [Downloadable!]
  7. Björn Christensen, 2001. "Beveridge-Kurven und Motivations-Mismatch," Kiel Working Papers 1044, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  8. Hian Teck Hoon, 1994. "International Trade And The Equilibrium Rate Of Unemployment In A Heckscher-Ohlin World Economy," International Economic Journal, Korean International Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 13-32, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Laszlo Goerke, 1999. "The Wedge," IZA Discussion Papers 71, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
    • Goerke, Laszlo, 2000. "The Wedge," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 68(5), pages 608-23, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Michael W. Klein & Scott Schuh & Robert K. Triest, 2002. "Job creation, job destruction, and international competition: a literature review," Working Papers 02-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
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