The Library

A conjecture on the explanation for high unemployment in the industrialized nations: part 1

Tools

Oswald, Andrew J. (1996) A conjecture on the explanation for high unemployment in the industrialized nations: part 1. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick, Department of Economics. Warwick economic research papers (No.475).

Preview

PDF
WRAP_Oswald_475_twerp_475.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download (97Kb)

Official URL: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/resear...

Abstract

The paper conjectures that the high unemployment of the Western economies has been produced by the decline of the private house-rental market and the rise of home-ownership. Evidence is provided for the developed nations, the states of the USA, and the regions of the UK, Italy, France and Sweden. Although its calculations should be viewed as tentative, the paper's results imply that a 10 percentage point rise in the owner-occupation rate is associated with an increase of approximately 2 percentage points in the unemployment rate. This would be sufficient to explain a significant part of the rise in joblessness in the industrialized countries.

Item Type:

Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)

Subjects:

H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor

Divisions:

Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

Unemployment -- Developed countries, Home ownership -- Developed countries, Right of property -- Developed countries, Developed countries -- Economic conditions

Series Name:

Warwick economic research papers

Publisher:

University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Place of Publication:

Coventry

Official Date:

December 1996

Dates:

Date	Event
December 1996	Published

Number:

No.475

Number of Pages:

Status:

Not Peer Reviewed

Access rights to Published version:

Open Access

Funder:

Leverhulme Trust (LT)

References:

Bentolila, S. and Bertola, G. (1990). "Firing Costs and Labour Demand: How Bad is Eurosclerosis?", Review of Economic Studies, 57, 381-402.
Bentolila, S. and Blanchard, O.J. (1990). "Spanish Unemployment", Economic Policy, 10, 234-281.
Bjorklund, A. (1985). "Unemployment and Mental Health: Some Evidence from Panel Data", Journal of Human Resources, 20, 469-483.
Blanchard, O.J. and Katz, L. (1997). "The Natural Rate of Unemployment", Journal of Economic Perspectives, forthcoming.
Blanchard, O.J. and Summers, L.H. (1986). "Hysteresis and the European Unemployment Problem", in Fischer, S. (ed.) NBER Macroeconomics Annual, pp. 15-78, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.
Blanchflower, D.G. and Oswald, A.J. (1994a). The Wage Curve, MIT Press.
Blanchflower, D.G. and Oswald, A.J. (1994b). "Estimating a Wage Curve for Britain: 1973-1990", Economic Journal, 104, 1025-1043.
Blanchflower, D.G, Oswald, A.J. and Warr, P.B. (1993). "Well-Being Over Time in Britain and the USA", paper presented at the November 1993 Happiness and Fairness Conference , London School of Economics.
Bover, O., Muellbauer, J. and Murphy, A. (1989). "Housing, Wages and UK Labour Markets", Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 51, 97-136.
Bruno, M. and Sachs, J. (1985). Economics of Worldwide Stagflation, Basil Blackwell: Oxford.
Calmfors, L. (1994). "Labour Market Policy and Unemployment", mimeo, University of Stockholm.
Calmfors, L. (1993). "Lessons from the Macroeconomic Experience of Sweden", European Journal of Political Economy, 9, 25-72.
Calmfors, L. and Driffil, J. (1988). "Centralization of Wage Bargaining and Macroeconomic Performance", Economic Policy, 6, 13-61.
Carruth, A.A., Hooker, M. and Oswald, A.J. (1996). "Input Prices and Unemployment Equilibria: Theory and Evidence for the United States", mimeo, Dartmouth College.
Christofides, L. N. and Oswald, A.J. (1992), "Real Wage Determination and Rent-Sharing in Collective Bargaining Agreements", Quarterly Journal of Economics, 65, 985-1002.
Clark, A.E. and Oswald, A.J. (1994). "Unhappiness and Unemployment", Economic Journal, 104, 648-659.
Di Tella, R. and MacCulloch, R. (1996). "The Determination of Unemployment Benefits", mimeo, Oxford University.
Freeman, R.B (1988). "Labour Market Institutions and Economic Performance", Economic Policy, 6, 64-78.
Grossman, S.J. and Hart, O.D. (1981). "Implicit Contracts, Moral Hazard and Unemployment", American Economic Review, P&P, 71, 301-307.
Hall, R.E. (1970). "Why is the Unemployment Rate so High at Full Employment?", Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 3, 369-402.
Henley, A. (1996). "Residential Mobility, Housing Wealth and the Labour Market", mimeo, University of Wales at Aberystwyth, October 1996.
Holmlund, B. (1996). "The Evolution of Unemployment in Sweden", mimeo, University of Uppsala.
Hughes, G.A. and McCormick, B. (1981). "Do Council House Policies Reduce Migration between Regions?", Economic Journal, 91, 919-937.
Hughes, G.A. and McCormick, B. (1985). "Migration Intentions in the UK: Which Households Want to Migrate and Which Succeed?", Economic Journal, 95, Supplement, 113-123.
Hughes, G.A. and McCormick, B. (1987). "Housing Markets, Unemployment and Labour Market Flexibility in the UK", European Economic Review, 31, 615-645.
Junankar, P.N. and Madsen, J.B. (1994). "Unemployment in the OECD: Models, Myths and Mysteries, mimeo, Australian National University.
Layard, R., Nickell, S.J. and Jackman, R. (1991). Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market, Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Lindbeck, A. (1990). "Remaining Puzzles and Neglected Issues in Macroeconomics", in Honkapohja, S. (ed.) The State of Macroeconomics, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Lindbeck, A. (1993). Unemployment and Macroeconomics, MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass.
Lindbeck, A. and Snower, D.J. (1988). The Insider-Outsider Theory of Employment and Unemployment, MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass.
Lundqvist, L. (1988). Housing Policy and Tenures in Sweden, Avebury Press: Aldershot.
Manning, A. (1994). "Labour Market Performance", mimeo, CEP, London School of Economics.
McCallum, J. (1983). "Inflation and Social Consensus in the Seventies", Economic Journal, 93, 784-805.
McCormick, B. (1983), "Housing and Unemployment in Great Britain", Oxford Economic Papers, 35, 283-305.
McCormick, B. (1996), "Regional Unemployment and Labour Mobility in the UK", mimeo, Southampton University.
McCrone, G. and Stephens, M. (1995), Housing Policy in Britain and Europe, UCL Press: London.
OECD (1994). Jobs Study, Paris.
Oswald, A.J. (1986), "Unemployment Insurance and Labor Contracts under Asymmetric Information: Theory and Facts", American Economic Review, 76, 365-377.
Oswald, A.J. (1995). "Four Pieces of the Unemployment Puzzle", mimeo, University of Warwick.
Phelps, E.S. (1994). Structural Slumps, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.
Roberts, M. (1996). Unpublished dissertation, Cambridge University.
Rowthorn, R.E. (1977). "Conflict, Inflation and Money", Cambridge Journal of Economics, 1, 215-239.
Shapiro, C. and Stiglitz, J.E. (1984). "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device", American Economic Review, 74, 433-444.
Wadsworth, J. (1995). "Eyes Down for a Full House: Employment Polarisation and the Housing Market", mimeo, Royal Holloway College, London University.