AGGREGATE PHILLIPS CURVES ARE NOT ALWAYS VERTICAL: HETEROGENEITY AND MISMATCH IN MULTIREGION OR MULTISECTOR ECONOMIES

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.J. Hughes Hallett

The aggregation of sectoral or regional Phillips curves yields an inflation–unemployment trade-off that is not vertical in the long run if there are mismatches between supply and demand in the regional or sectoral labor markets. This remains true even when the individual Phillips curves are all vertical. This result stems from variations in the slope of the individual short-run Phillips curves, rather than from changes to the equilibrium level of unemployment. It implies a role for the management of the distribution of demand over different sectors or regions, in order to minimize the natural rate of unemployment.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Derek Zweig

We explore the relationship between unemployment and inflation in the United States (1949-2019) through both Bayesian and spectral lenses. We employ Bayesian vector autoregression (“BVAR”) to expose empirical interrelationships between unemployment, inflation, and interest rates. Generally, we do find short-run behavior consistent with the Phillips curve, though it tends to break down over the longer term. Emphasis is also placed on Phelps’ and Friedman’s NAIRU theory using both a simplistic functional form and BVAR. We find weak evidence supporting the NAIRU theory from the simplistic model, but stronger evidence using BVAR. A wavelet analysis reveals that the short-run NAIRU theory and Phillips curve relationships may be time-dependent, while the long-run relationships are essentially vertical, suggesting instead that each relationship is primarily observed over the medium-term (2-10 years), though the economically significant medium-term region has narrowed in recent decades to roughly 4-7 years. We pay homage to Phillips’ original work, using his functional form to compare potential differences in labor bargaining power attributable to labor scarcity, partitioned by skill level (as defined by educational attainment). We find evidence that the wage Phillips curve is more stable for individuals with higher skill and that higher skilled labor may enjoy a lower natural rate of unemployment.


1990 ◽  
Vol 133 ◽  
pp. 91-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.G. Fisher ◽  
D.S. Turner ◽  
K.F. Wallis ◽  
J.D. Whitley

The nature of the association between inflation and the level of unemployment has been a persistent issue of controversy over the last three decades. Initially, attention focussed on the statistical relationship between nominal wage inflation and unemployment— the Phillips curve—which could be seen equally as a relationship between price inflation and unemployment, if prices are a constant mark-up on wages. This was quickly adopted as a menu for policy choice, describing the trade-off between increases in unemployment and reductions in inflation. By the 1970s, however, the question was whether a long-run trade-off existed at all, the OECD economies having experienced rising unemployment and, simultaneously, rising inflation. The subsequent re-examination of labour market behaviour introduced the concept of an equilibrium rate (the natural rate) of unemployment which, in the monetarist view, was not amenable to demand management policies. More recent developments reflect a growing concern with the supply side of the economy, including the question of what determines the non accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU).


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Blanchard

Fifty years ago, Milton Friedman articulated the natural rate hypothesis. It was composed of two sub-hypotheses: First, the natural rate of unemployment is independent of monetary policy. Second, there is no long-run trade-off between the deviation of unemployment from the natural rate and inflation. Both propositions have been challenged. The paper reviews the arguments and the macro and micro evidence against each. It concludes that, in each case, the evidence is suggestive, but not conclusive. Policymakers should keep the natural rate hypothesis as their null hypothesis, but keep an open mind and put some weight on the alternatives.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Omer Allagabo Omer Mustafa

The relationship between wage inflation and unemployment (Phillips Curve) is controversial in economic thought, and the controversy is centered around whether there is always a trade-off or not. If this relationship is negative it is called The short-run Fillips Curve. However, in the long run, this relationship may probable not exist. The matter of how inflation and unemployment influence economic growth, is debatably among macroeconomic policymakers. This study examines the behavior of the Phillips Curve in Sudan and its effect on economic growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 130 (630) ◽  
pp. 1650-1677 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E Bloom ◽  
Michael Kuhn ◽  
Klaus Prettner

Abstract We analyse the economic consequences for poor countries of investing in female health within a unified growth model featuring health-related gender differences in productivity. Better female health accelerates the demographic transition and thereby the take-off towards sustained economic growth. By contrast, male health improvements delay the transition and take-off because they tend to raise fertility. However, households tend to prefer male health improvements over female health improvements because they imply a larger static utility gain. This highlights the existence of a dynamic trade-off between the short-run interests of households and long-run development goals.


2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Phaneuf

Criticizing the fact the Phillips curve wage and price equations are usually reduced form or quasi-reduced form equations without an explicit structural model behind, this article is an attempt to provide a supply side based structural model of the Phillips curve. Of special importance are the theoretical specifications of the resulting wage and price equations that include several new explanatory variables and especially policy variables. After having demonstrated under what structural conditions the price-Phillips curve of this model will be a vertical in the long run, the model is solved for the theoretical specification of the natural rate of unemployment.


Author(s):  
Crina Viju ◽  
James Nolan ◽  
William A. Kerr

The accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union (EU) is assessed from the perspective of market integration in key agricultural sectors. An empirical investigation is conducted using monthly data for two periods: from 1975:01-1994:12 (the pre-EU period) and 1995:01-2004:12 (post-EU period). The existence of market integration both within the countries and within the EU is tested using time-series methods. A long-run equilibrium between prices for the same good in different markets does not exclude the possibility of short-run deviations in the individual data, so part of this analysis consists of estimating an econometric model (error correction) to uncover long-run effects of price deviations. Only a subset of agricultural prices moves together after EU integration.     Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v2i1.164


1983 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
G L Clark

Cyclical sensitivity in employment, wages, and hours worked are explored with reference to three industries and eleven US cities over the period 1972–1980. Conventional neoclassical discrete-exchange models of the labor market are shown to be inadequate because of marked rigidities in the patterns of short-run adjustment. Money wages are very stable, being dominated by a long-run trend, and firms tend to adjust hours worked and only then employment in the short run. There are, however, significant interregional variations in these patterns within the same industry. Spectral analysis and tests for periodicities in the patterns of residuals derived from trend-line estimates of money wages confirm a supposition that urban Phillips curves do not exist. The evidence supports the implicit notion of contract theory that continuous employer-worker relationships exist over the business cycle. The question of how useful, in general, this theory might be is left open for the present.


Policy Papers ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  

The discussion in this paper of the causes and consequences of recent oil price increases, and the appropriate policy response, is framed by the volatility and uncertainty that characterize the oil market. Volatile prices arise from supply and demand that are both highly inelastic in the short run, with the result that even small shocks can have large effects on price. The difficulty of predicting long-run supply and demand creates uncertainty about future prices. Further, even current supply and demand data are lacking, which results in additional uncertainty. These features of uncertainty and volatility of prices make it difficult to reach simple conclusions about how oil producers and consumers should respond to price changes.


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