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Causes of structural unemployment in Finland and Sweden 1990-2004

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Abstract

We describe the size and timing for comprehensive as well as decomposed measures of unemployment. We then test for and confirm a change in the structural rate of unemployment by finding structural breaks in the Okun and Beveridge relations. Finally, we employ existing empirical models to examine the contributions of exogenous factors to the changes in the structural unemployment rate. We present separate estimates for the mid-1990s, late 1990s and early 2000s. They indicate that the structural rate has decreased in both countries, but has not returned to the levels of the 1980s.

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  • Fregert, Klas & Pehkonen, Jaakko, 2008. "Causes of structural unemployment in Finland and Sweden 1990-2004," Working Papers 2008:14, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2008_014
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Structural unemployment; Okun curve; Beveridge curve; Finland; Sweden;
    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
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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