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How is Confidence Related to Unemployment in Europe? A fuzzy logic answer

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  • António Caleiro

    (Department of Economics, University of Évora)

Abstract

Notwithstanding the numerous applications of fuzzy logic in several fields of economics, it is surprising that, to the best of our knowledge, so very few applications have been made in modelling approximations of subjective economic variables, such as confidence, satisfaction or even expectations, by objective ones, such as unemployment, output or inflation. This gap in the literature is accompanied by a lack on the availability of data concerning those subjective variables. Given that one of the main concerns of fuzzy logic is to capture approximate rather than exact forms of reasoning, and this also characterises many economic situations, such as in fact forming intrinsically subjective measures of confidence, this logic can and should indeed be used to understand how some of those subjective measures can be approximated by objective ones. This task is accomplished in the paper by the use of data on consumer confidence and on the unemployment rate for the pre-enlargement fifteen European Union member states. The results indicate the clear importance of unemployment on confidence, which is a result that should be taken into account when analysing policy-making that, from a naïve and/or easy viewpoint, considers confidence as a relevant variable but ignores unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • António Caleiro, 2005. "How is Confidence Related to Unemployment in Europe? A fuzzy logic answer," Economics Working Papers 1_2005, University of Évora, Department of Economics (Portugal).
  • Handle: RePEc:evo:wpecon:1_2005
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/8417
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. António Caleiro, 2003. "Subjective Versus Objective Economic Measures, A fuzzy logic exercise," Economics Working Papers 11_2003, University of Évora, Department of Economics (Portugal).
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    4. Carlo Bagnoli & Halbert C. Smith, 1998. "The Theory of Fuzzy Logic and its Application to Real Estate Valuation," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 16(2), pages 169-200.
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    6. Sargent, Thomas J., 1993. "Bounded Rationality in Macroeconomics: The Arne Ryde Memorial Lectures," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288695.
    7. Teresa Santero & Niels Westerlund, 1996. "Confidence Indicators and Their Relationship to Changes in Economic Activity," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 170, OECD Publishing.
    8. Robert Draeseke & David E. A. Giles, 1999. "A Fuzzy Logic Approach to Modelling the Underground Economy," Econometrics Working Papers 9909, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.
    9. William D. Nordhaus, 1975. "The Political Business Cycle," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 42(2), pages 169-190.
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    Cited by:

    1. Caetano, José & Caleiro, António, 2005. "Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment. What kind of relationship is there?," EconStor Preprints 142738, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. C. Y. Shin & Paul P. Wang, 2010. "Economic Applications Of Fuzzy Subset Theory And Fuzzy Logic: A Brief Survey," New Mathematics and Natural Computation (NMNC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(03), pages 301-320.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Confidence; European Union; Fuzzy Logic; Unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General
    • C82 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data; Data Access
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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