scholarly journals INDIVISIBLE LABOR SUPPLY AND INVOLUNTARY UNEMPLOYMENT: MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION MODEL

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
YASUHITO TANAKA

This paper is an attempt to provide a micro-theoretical basis for Keynesian economics while maintaining as much of the neoclassical framework as possible, such as utility maximization for consumers and profit maximization for firms. We show the existence of involuntary unemployment without assuming wage rigidity when labor supplies of individuals are indivisible. We derive involuntary unemployment using an overlapping generations model under monopolistic competition with constant returns to scale technology and indivisible labor supply.

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-28
Author(s):  
Yasuhito Tanaka

AbstractWe show the existence of involuntary unemployment without assuming wage rigidity using a neoclassical model of consumption and production. We consider a case of indivisible labor supply and increasing returns to scale under monopolistic competition. We derive involuntary unemployment by considering utility maximization of consumers and profit maximization of firms in an overlapping generations (OLG) model with two or three generations. In a two-periods OLG model it is possible that a reduction of the nominal wage rate reduces unemployment. However, if we consider a three-periods OLG model including a childhood period, a reduction of the nominal wage rate does not necessarily reduce unemployment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 14-26
Author(s):  
Yasuhito Tanaka

AbstractIt is an important problem to derive negative relation between the unemployment rate and the inflation rate, that is, the Phillips curve without market imperfection. We derive the Phillips curve using an overlapping generations model under monopolistic competition. We consider the effects of exogenous changes in labor productivity. An increase (decrease) in the labor productivity in a period induces a decrease (increase) in the employment, an increase (decrease) in the unemployment rate and a falling (rising) in the price of the goods in the same period. Then, given the price in the previous period the inflation rate falls (rises). This conclusion is based on the premise of utility maximization of consumers and profit maximization of firms. Therefore, we have presented a microeconomic foundation of the Phillips curve.


Ekonomika ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-83
Author(s):  
Yasuhito Tanaka

We show the existence of involuntary unemployment based on consumers’ utility maximization and firms’ profit maximization behavior under monopolistic competition with increasing, decreasing or constant returns to scale technology using a three-periods overlapping generations (OLG) model with a childhood period as well as younger and older periods, and pay-as-you-go pension for the older generation, and we analyze the effects of fiscal policy financed by tax and budget deficit (or seigniorage) to achieve full-employment under a situation with involuntary unemployment. Under constant prices we show the following results. 1) If the realization of full employment will increase consumers’ disposable income, in order to achieve full-employment from a state with involuntary unemployment, we need budget deficit (Proposition 1). 2) If the full-employment state has been achieved, we need balanced budget to maintain full-employment (Proposition 2). We also consider fiscal policy under inflation or deflation. Additionally, we present a game-theoretic interpretation of involuntary unemployment and full-employment. We also argue that if full employment should be achieved in equilibrium, the instability of equilibrium can be considered to be the cause of involuntary unemployment.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1780-1799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-François Mertens ◽  
Anna Rubinchik

The main result is that the golden rule equilibrium (GRE) is Pareto optimal (in the classical sense) in an overlapping generations (OG) model with constant-returns-to-scale production, transfers, arbitrary life-time productivity and homogeneous instantaneous felicity. In addition, we extend Cass and Yaari's equivalence between efficiency (aggregate consumption dominance) and present value dominance (with evaluation made using a candidate equilibrium price path).


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Yasuhito Tanaka

In recent years, a school of economics called MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) has been attracting attention, but it has not been analyzed theoretically or mathematically. This study aims to provide a theoretical basis for the skeleton of the MMT argument, while maintaining the basics of the neoclassical microeconomic framework, such as utility maximization of consumers by means of utility functions and budget constraint, profit maximization of firms in monopolistic competition, and equilibrium of supply and demand of goods. Using a simple static model that includes economic growth due to technological progress, we will argue that: 1) a continuous budget deficit is necessary to maintain full employment when the economy is growing, and that this deficit does not have to be covered by future surpluses; 2) Inflation is caused when the actual budget deficit exceeds the level necessary and sufficient to maintain full employment. In order to avoid further inflation, it is necessary to maintain a certain level of budget deficit; 3) A shortfall in the budget deficit leads to recession and involuntary unemployment. To recover from this, a budget deficit that exceeds the level necessary to maintain full employment is required. However, since a continuous budget deficit is necessary after full employment is restored, the deficit created to overcome the recession does not need to be covered by future budget surpluses, nor should it be.


Author(s):  
Yves Balasko

This chapter examines the net supply correspondence of a constant returns to scale firms under suitable convexity and smoothness assumptions. These assumptions are comparable to those used in the previous chapters for consumers and production with decreasing returns to scale. The chapter starts by formulating constant returns to scale production by way of production sets with arbitrary numbers of inputs and outputs. It then addresses the profit maximization problem of a constant returns to scale firm. That problem does not always have a solution. More accurately, if some feasible activity yields a strictly positive profit at some given prices, then it suffices to consider an arbitrarily large multiple of that activity vector to get a feasible activity that yields an arbitrarily large profit at the same prices. The firm can then make an arbitrarily large profit.


2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Ohno

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to understand the behaviour of the capital share and the unemployment rate in Europe over the past quarter of a century. We consider a model with monopolistic competition, increasing returns and an imperfect labour market, assuming that the elasticity between capital and labour is less than unity. Previous works have generally assumed constant returns to scale. Our results offer an important conclusion, namely that increased wage pressure will increase the unemployment rate and the capital share even though the latter initially decreases, which fits the stylized facts about the studied economies.


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