IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wii/wpaper/249.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Full Employment: A Survey of Theory, Empirics and Policies

Author

Listed:

Abstract

The concept of full employment is associated with diverse economic, political and social aspects. We provide a survey of theory, empirics and policy issues related to full employment. We make a novel contribution by tying together multi-dimensional aspects of full employment regarding definitions, theoretical perspectives, empirical measurements, policy debates and real-world policy programs. We distinguish concepts of full employment that provide systematic links to price stability; minimum unemployment and maximum employment approaches; and the unfilled vacancies perspective. Furthermore, we provide and discuss different empirical measures of full employment for selected economies, and we propose a new full employment typology. Based on our survey findings, we argue that conceptualising and measuring full employment is not merely a technical task, but inevitably involves normative judgments. Finally, we discuss avenues for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Aleksandr Arsenev & Meryem Gökten & Philipp Heimberger & Andreas Lichtenberger, 2024. "Full Employment: A Survey of Theory, Empirics and Policies," wiiw Working Papers 249, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    • Handle: RePEc:wii:wpaper:249
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://wiiw.ac.at/full-employment-a-survey-of-theory-empirics-and-policies-dlp-6913.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lehner, Lukas & Kasy, Maximilian, 2022. "Employing the unemployed of Marienthal: Evaluation of a guaranteed job program," INET Oxford Working Papers 2022-29, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    2. Pavlina R. Tcherneva & L. Randall Wray, 2007. "Public Employment and Women: The Impact of Argentina’s Jefes Program on Female Heads of Poor Households," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_519, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. Dimitri Papadimitriou, 1999. "No Cheers for Full Employment," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 80-102, November.
    4. Tony Ramsay, 2002. "The jobs guarantee: a Post Keynesian analysis," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 273-291.
    5. Maria Greve & Michael Fritsch & Michael Wyrwich, 2023. "Long‐term decline of regions and the rise of populism: The case of Germany," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 409-445, March.
    6. Malcolm Sawyer, 2003. "Employer of Last Resort: Could It Deliver Full Employment and Price Stability?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 881-907, December.
    7. A. W. Phillips, 1958. "The Relation Between Unemployment and the Rate of Change of Money Wage Rates in the United Kingdom, 1861–1957," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 25(100), pages 283-299, November.
    8. Julio Lopez-Gallardo, 2000. "Budget Deficit and Full Employment," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 549-563, July.
    9. Kornai, Janos, 1992. "The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198287766.
    10. Adel M. EL-MAHDY & Neveen M. TORAYEH, 2009. "Debt Sustainabiliy And Economic Growth In Egypt," International Journal of Applied Econometrics and Quantitative Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 9(1).
    11. Malcolm Sawyer, 2023. "Political Aspects of Full Employment: Eight Decades On," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 1109-1123, October.
    12. Raymond Hutchings, 1967. "The ending of unemployment in the USSR," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 29-52.
    13. Jackson Mejia & Brian C. Albrecht, 2022. "On price stability with a job guarantee," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 568-584, October.
    14. George Argitis, 2008. "Inflation targeting and Keynes's political economy," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 249-270, December.
    15. Harry Holzer & Robert Lerman, 2014. "Work-Based Learning to Expand Opportunities for Youth," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(4), pages 18-31.
    16. William F. Mitchell & Martin J. Watts, 1997. "The Path to full Employment," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 30(4), pages 436-443, December.
    17. Bhaduri, Amit & Marglin, Stephen, 1990. "Unemployment and the Real Wage: The Economic Basis for Contesting Political Ideologies," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(4), pages 375-393, December.
    18. Ravi, Shamika & Engler, Monika, 2015. "Workfare as an Effective Way to Fight Poverty: The Case of India’s NREGS," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 57-71.
    19. Daniel Kostzer, 2008. ""Argentina--A Case Study on the Plan Jefes y Jefas de Hogar Desocupados, or the Employment Road to Economic Recovery," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_534, Levy Economics Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Reynold F. Nesiba, 2013. "Do Institutionalists and post-Keynesians share a common approach to Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)?," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 10(1), pages 44-60.
    2. Godin, Antoine, 2014. "Job Guarantee: a Structuralist Perspective," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 16.
    3. 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).
    4. Eckhard Hein & Christian Schoder, 2011. "Interest rates, distribution and capital accumulation -- A post-Kaleckian perspective on the US and Germany," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 693-723, November.
    5. Robert Skidelsky & Simone Gasperin, 2021. "Reinstating fiscal policy for normal times: Public investment and Public Jobs Programmes," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 74(296), pages 3-24.
    6. Summa, Ricardo de Figueiredo, 2022. "Alternative uses of functional finance: Lerner, MMT and the Sraffiansh," IPE Working Papers 175/2021, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    7. Eckhard Hein, 2017. "Post-Keynesian macroeconomics since the mid 1990s: main developments," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 14(2), pages 131-172, September.
    8. Fadhel Kaboub, 2011. "Understanding and preventing financial instability; Post-Keynesian Institutionalism and government employer of last resort," Chapters, in: Charles J. Whalen (ed.), Financial Instability and Economic Security after the Great Recession, chapter 4, pages 77-92, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. 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).
    10. Vahabi, Mehrdad, 2020. "نئولیبرالیسم و مقابله با تورم [The Neoliberalism and the Inflation Control]," MPRA Paper 102539, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Zdravka, Todorova, 2009. "Employer of Last Resort Policy and Feminist Economics: Social Provisioning and Socialization of Investment," MPRA Paper 16240, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Ivan D. Velasquez, 2018. "Two Harvard Economists on Monetary Economics: Lauchlin Currie and Hyman Minsky on Financial Systems and Crises," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_917, Levy Economics Institute.
    13. Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, 2021. "The Employer of Last Resort Scheme and the Energy Transition: A Stock-Flow Consistent Analysis," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_995, Levy Economics Institute.
    14. Amit Bhaduri, 2000. "Nationalism and Economic Policy in the Era of Globalization," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2000-188, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2000. "Market concentration and technological innovation in a dynamic model of growth and distribution," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 53(215), pages 447-475.
    16. Kim, Byung Yeon, 1997. "Soviet Household Saving Function," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 30(2-3), pages 181-203.
    17. Christian Schoder, 2012. "Effective demand, exogenous normal utilization and endogenous capacity in the long run. Evidence from a CVAR analysis for the US," IMK Working Paper 103-2012, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    18. J. Kornai., 2002. "The System Paradigm," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, vol. 4.
    19. repec:zbw:bofitp:2008_015 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Carlos Medel, 2017. "Forecasting Chilean inflation with the hybrid new keynesian Phillips curve: globalisation, combination, and accuracy," Journal Economía Chilena (The Chilean Economy), Central Bank of Chile, vol. 20(3), pages 004-050, December.
    21. Helena Hannula, 2001. "Restructuring of the Estonian economy and the role of FDIs in it," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, in: Foreign Direct Investments in the Estonian Economy, volume 9, chapter 3, pages 91-174, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    full employment; NAIRU; Beveridge curve; employment; welfare states; job guarantee;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • 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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wii:wpaper:249. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Customer service (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wiiwwat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.