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What Jobs Should a Public Job Guarantee Provide?: Lessons from Hyman P. Minsky

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  • Daniel Haim

Abstract

The job guarantee is a viable policy option for tackling both unemployment and underemployment. Hyman P. Minsky was one of the seminal writers on this subject. The first part of this working paper provides a survey of Minsky's writings to identify what kind of jobs he had in mind when recommending employer-of-last-resort policies. Minsky favored: (1) jobs increasing socially useful output, providing all of society better public services and goods; (2) jobs guaranteed by the public sector on a project-by-project basis at a minimum wage; (3) jobs in the places where people need them; and (4) jobs taking the people that need them as they are. The second part of the paper suggests policy recommendations for today's economy. As long as the COVID-19 pandemic still rages on, a targeted public job guarantee program can assist in the social provisioning and distribution of food, shelter, and medical services. After the pandemic, a public job guarantee can reduce poverty and inequality, and bring about a more democratic, sustainable, and socially cohesive economic system.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Haim, 2021. "What Jobs Should a Public Job Guarantee Provide?: Lessons from Hyman P. Minsky," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_981, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_981
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. William F. Mitchell, 1998. "The Buffer Stock Employment Model and the NAIRU: The Path to Full Employment," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 547-555, June.
    2. Jan Kregel, 2020. "Alternative Macro Policy Response for a Pandemic Recession," Economics Policy Note Archive 20-6, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. L. Randall Wray, 2016. "Why Minsky Matters: An Introduction to the Work of a Maverick Economist," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10575.
    4. Luiza Nassif-Pires & Laura de Lima Xavier & Thomas Masterson & Michalis Nikiforos & Fernando Rios-Avila, 2020. "Pandemic of Inequality," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_149, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. J. M. Keynes, 1997. "The General Theory of Employment," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, vol. 5.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ernst, Ekkehard & Merola, Rossana & Reljic, Jelena, 2024. "Fiscal policy instruments for inclusive labour markets: A review," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1406, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Tamara Premrov & Leonard Geyer & Nicolas Prinz, 2022. "Arbeit für alle? Kosten und Verteilungswirkung einer Jobgarantie für Langzeitbeschäftigungslose in Österreich," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 48(1), pages 59-82.
    3. Françoise Drumetz & Christian Pfister, 2021. "The Meaning of MMT," Working papers 833, Banque de France.
    4. Françoise Drumetz & Christian Pfister, 2021. "Modern Monetary Theory: A Wrong Compass for Decision-Making," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 56(6), pages 355-361, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job Guarantee; Public Service Employment; Employer of Last Resort (ELR); Unemployment; Full Employment; Minsky; Policy Design; COVID-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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