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Is Economic Growth Really Jobless? Empirical Evidence from North Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Ousama Ben-Salha

    (Northern Border University
    University of Sousse
    Economic Research Forum)

  • Zouhair Mrabet

    (Qatar University)

Abstract

North African countries recorded the highest youth unemployment rate in the World during the latest years. The main causes for that situation continue to be at the forefront of the debate among economists, sociologists and policymakers. This paper contributes to the existing literature by estimating the Okun’s law for four North African economies over the period 1991–2013. It examines the reaction of unemployment rate to output for different groups of the labor force as determined by age-group and gender. In addition to the basic linear specification, we present estimates of the Okun’s coefficients by taking into account the potential presence of structural breaks, threshold and asymmetry. The empirical investigation highlights the presence of mixed findings regarding the significance, magnitude and stability of coefficients for the different groups of the labor force and countries. Policy implications are correspondingly drawn.

Suggested Citation

  • Ousama Ben-Salha & Zouhair Mrabet, 2019. "Is Economic Growth Really Jobless? Empirical Evidence from North Africa," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(4), pages 598-624, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:61:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1057_s41294-018-00082-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41294-018-00082-9
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bod’a, Martin & Považanová, Mariana, 2021. "Output-unemployment asymmetry in Okun coefficients for OECD countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 307-323.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic growth; Unemployment; Okun’s law; North Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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