Sawyer, M and Spencer, D (2008) On the definition of involuntary unemployment. Journal of Socio-Economics, 37 (2). 718 - 735. ISSN 1053-5357
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.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in The Journal of Socio-Economics. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in The Journal of Socio-Economics, [37, 2, (2008)] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2006.12.049 |
Keywords: | Unemployment; Involuntary unemployment; Demand for labour |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Economics Division (LUBS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Dec 2013 12:08 |
Last Modified: | 10 Dec 2013 12:08 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2006.12.049 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.socec.2006.12.049 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:77126 |