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Unemployment: The Silent Epidemic

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  • Pavlina R. Tcherneva

Abstract

This paper examines two key aspects of unemployment--its propagation mechanism and socioeconomic costs. It identifies a key feature of this macroeconomic phenomenon: it behaves like a disease. A detailed assessment of the transmission mechanism and the existing pecuniary and nonpecuniary costs of unemployment suggests a fundamental shift in the policy responses to tackling joblessness. To stem the contagion effect and its outsized social and economic impact, fiscal policy can be designed around two criteria for successful disease intervention--preparedness and prevention. The paper examines how a job guarantee proposal uniquely meets those two requirements. It is a policy response whose merits include much more than its macroeconomic stabilization features, as discussed in the literature. It is, in a sense, a method of inoculation against the vile effects of unemployment. The paper discusses several preventative features of the program.

Suggested Citation

  • Pavlina R. Tcherneva, 2017. "Unemployment: The Silent Epidemic," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_895, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_895
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    11. Melisa Bubonya & Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Mark Wooden, 2014. "A Family Affair: Job Loss and the Mental Health of Spouses and Adolescents," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2014n23, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    12. Anne Case & Angua Deaton, 2015. "Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century," Working Papers 15078.full.pdf, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
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    16. Alan B. Krueger, 2017. "Where Have All the Workers Gone? An Inquiry into the Decline of the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(2 (Fall)), pages 1-87.
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    Cited by:

    1. Landwehr, Jannik J., 2020. "The case for a job guarantee policy in Germany: A political-economic analysis of the potential benefits and obstacles," IPE Working Papers 150/2020, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    2. Wen, Jun & Deng, Peidong & Fu, Qiang & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2022. "Does health innovation relieve disease burden? The comprehensive evidence," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    3. John Komlos, 2019. "The Real U.S. Unemployment Rate Is Twice the Official Rate, and the Phillips Curve," CESifo Working Paper Series 7859, CESifo.
    4. L. Randall Wray & Stephanie A. Kelton & Pavlina R. Tcherneva & Scott Fullwiler & Flavia Dantas, 2018. "Guaranteed Jobs through a Public Service Employment Program," Economics Policy Note Archive 18-2, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Esteban Cruz-Hidalgo & Dirk H. Ehnts & Pavlina R. Tcherneva, 2019. "Completing the euro: The euro treasury and the job guarantee," Revista de Economía Crítica, Asociación de Economía Crítica, vol. 27, pages 100-111.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; Epidemic; Mortality; Morbidity; Health; Scarring Effects; Crime; Family; Job Guarantee; Labor Market Dynamics; Involuntary Job Loss; Prevention;
    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
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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