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The Beveridge Curve in the OECD. Before and after the great recession

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  • Sergio Destefanis
  • Giuseppe Mastromatteo

Abstract

This paper analyses the Beveridge Curve across nine OECD countries from 1985 to 2012. Besides allowing for some customary labour-market institutions, we assess the role of various kinds of structural factors (technological progress, globalisation, oil prices) and of the current recession on the Curve. Significant institutional variables include unemployment benefits, the tax wedge, active labour-market policies and employment protection legislation (the latter improving the unemployment-vacancies trade-off). Technological progress (R&D intensity) shifts the Curve outwards, producing evidence in support of a creative destruction effect. Globalisation and unfavourable oil price shocks also shift the Curve outwards. Structural relationships seem to be stable throughout the 2008-2012 period, suggesting that the Great Recession mainly implied moves along the Curve.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergio Destefanis & Giuseppe Mastromatteo, 2016. "The Beveridge Curve in the OECD. Before and after the great recession," Working Papers 5, Department of the Treasury, Ministry of the Economy and of Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:itt:wpaper:2016-5
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ambra Poggi, 2019. "Regional labour markets in Spain: Can flexibility and local democracy reduce inefficiencies?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(3), pages 1499-1516, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; vacancies; globalisation; creative destruction; labour-market policies;
    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
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • F60 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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