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The Beveridge curve in the OECD before and after the great recession

Author

Listed:
  • Sergio Destefanis

    (DISES — Università di Salerno
    CIRET)

  • Matteo Fragetta

    (DISES — Università di Salerno)

  • Giuseppe Mastromatteo

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

  • Nazzareno Ruggiero

    (DISES — Università di Salerno)

Abstract

This paper analyses the Beveridge curve across twelve OECD countries from 1985 to 2013. Besides allowing for some customary labour-market institutions, we assess the role of technological progress and globalisation, as well as of the current recession, on the curve. Significant institutional variables include unemployment benefits, the tax wedge, minimum wages, and, to a lesser extent, employment protection legislation (the latter improving the unemployment-vacancies trade-off). Technological progress has a complex impact. R&D intensity worsens matching efficiency, producing evidence in support of a creative destruction effect, while an index of total factor productivity has the opposite effect. Unlike in previous work, we find a favourable impact of globalisation. The curve parameters are stable throughout the 2008–2013 period, once we allow for country-specific shifts in the curve coincidental with the Great Recession. On the other hand, there is no common shift of the curve that can be associated with the Great Recession.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergio Destefanis & Matteo Fragetta & Giuseppe Mastromatteo & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2020. "The Beveridge curve in the OECD before and after the great recession," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 411-436, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurase:v:10:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s40822-019-00140-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s40822-019-00140-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Sergio Destefanis & Matteo Fragetta & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2023. "Active and passive labour-market policies: the outlook from the Beveridge curve," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(55), pages 6538-6550, November.
    2. Ambra Poggi, 2019. "Regional labour markets in Spain: Can flexibility and local democracy reduce inefficiencies?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(3), pages 1499-1516, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; Vacancies; Globalisation; Creative destruction; Labour-market policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • F60 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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