IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceco/v37y2008i2p718-735.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the definition of involuntary unemployment

Author

Listed:
  • Sawyer, Malcolm
  • Spencer, David

Abstract

Keynes gave two definitions of involuntary unemployment which could be seen more as tests for the existence of involuntary unemployment than definitions. It is argued that Keynes's definitions are inadequate as tests of unemployment and in many circumstances would fail to reveal the existence of unemployment. We argue that unemployment as a theoretical construct is always involuntary, and the appearance of voluntary unemployment arises only through the mismeasurement of unemployment. We argue that involuntary unemployment has to be viewed as a macroeconomic concept rather than a microeconomic one. In a collective sense, the degree of unemployment is not the outcome of decisions made by the individuals concerned.

Suggested Citation

  • Sawyer, Malcolm & Spencer, David, 2008. "On the definition of involuntary unemployment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 718-735, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:2:p:718-735
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5H-4NVCFXK-1/1/71e2c5629a4016805ce0de76b8138d73
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Weitzman, Martin L, 1982. "Increasing Returns and the Foundations of Unemployment Theory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(368), pages 787-804, December.
    2. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1995. "The Wage Curve," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026202375x, April.
    3. Michel, DE VROEY, 2005. "Involuntary Unemployment : the Elusive Quest for a Theory," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2005004, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques.
    4. Malcolm C. Sawyer, 1992. "On Imperfect Competition and Macroeconomic Analysis," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Alfredo Monte (ed.), Recent Developments in the Theory of Industrial Organization, chapter 4, pages 79-113, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Robert E. Prasch, 2000. "Reassessing the Labor Supply Curve," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 679-692, September.
    6. David A. Spencer, 2006. "Work for all those who want it? Why the neoclassical labour supply curve is an inappropriate foundation for the theory of employment and unemployment," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 30(3), pages 459-472, May.
    7. Malcolm Sawyer, 2002. "The NAIRU, Aggregate Demand and Investment," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 66-94, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yasuhiro Sakai, 2017. "Involuntary Unemployment versus "Involuntary Employment" : J.M. Keynes and Beyond," Discussion Papers CRR Discussion Paper Series A: General 25, Shiga University, Faculty of Economics,Center for Risk Research.
    2. Malcolm Sawyer & David Spencer, 2010. "Labour Supply, Employment and Unemployment in Macroeconomics: A Critical Appraisal of Orthodoxy and a Heterodox Alternative," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 263-279.

    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. Giuseppe Fontana & Alfonso Palacio‐Vera, 2007. "Are Long‐Run Price Stability And Short‐Run Output Stabilization All That Monetary Policy Can Aim For?," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 269-298, May.
    2. Michel De Vroey, 2005. "Have the Early Coordination Failures Models Achieved Keynes's Programme ?," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 115(4), pages 417-436.
    3. Piero Ferri, 2011. "Macroeconomics of Growth Cycles and Financial Instability," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14260.
    4. Ioannidis, Yiorgos, 2011. "Employment in the Keynesian and neoliberal universe: theoretical transformations and political correlations," MPRA Paper 45062, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1991. "Changes in the Structure of Wages in the Public and Private Sectors," Working Papers 662, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    6. Carlo Morelli & Paul Seaman, 2010. "The Living Wage: Reducing inequality in the UK?," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 239, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    7. Goulven Rubin, 2014. "Disequilibrium economics: some comments about its nature, origins and fate. A review essay of "Transforming Modern Macroeconomics, The Relationship of Micro and Macroeconomics in Historical Persp," Working Papers halshs-01091765, HAL.
    8. Boggio, Luciano, 2009. "Long-run effects of low-wage countries' growing competitiveness and exports of manufactures," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 38-49, March.
    9. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2006. "The Wage Curve: An Entry Written for the New Palgrave, 2nd Edition," IZA Discussion Papers 2138, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Renaud Crassous & Jean Charles Hourcade & Olivier Sassi, 2006. "Endogenous structural change and climate targets," Post-Print halshs-00009335, HAL.
    11. Maarten Goos & Jozef Konings, 2001. "Does Rent-Sharing Exist in Belgium ?. An Empirical Analysis Using Firm Level Data," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 65-79.
    12. 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.
    13. Brücker, Herbert & Hauptmann, Andreas & Jahn, Elke J. & Upward, Richard, 2014. "Migration and imperfect labor markets: Theory and cross-country evidence from Denmark, Germany and the UK," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 205-225.
    14. Wouter Vermeulen & J. van Ommeren, 2006. "Compensation of regional unemployment in housing markets," CPB Discussion Paper 57, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    15. Geeta G. Kingdon & John B. Knight, 2000. "Are searching and non-searching unemployment distinct states when unemployment is high? The case of South Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2000-02, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    16. Ramos, Raul & Duque, Juan C. & Surinach, Jordi, 2010. "Is the wage curve formal or informal? Evidence for Colombia," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 63-65, November.
    17. Patrick Artus, 1993. "Défauts de coordination des activités. Principes et exemples," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(3), pages 551-568.
    18. Karen Turner, Gioele Figus, John Kim Swales, Lisa R yan, Patrizio Lecca, and Peter McGregor, 2019. "Can the Composition of Energy Use in an Expanding Economy be Altered by Consumers Responses to Technological Change?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    19. Ulrich Rendtel & Johannes Schwarze, 1995. "Zum Zusammenhang zwischen Lohnhöhe und Arbeitslosigkeit: neue Befunde auf Basis semi-parametrischer Schätzungen und eines verallgemeinerten Varianz-Komponenten-Modells," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 118, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Bennett, John & Dixon, Huw David, 1995. "Macroeconomic equilibrium and reform in a transitional economy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1465-1485, October.

    More about this item

    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:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:2:p:718-735. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620175 .

    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.