Hysteresis, Nigeria’s Monetary Policy and Unemployment in an Environment of Financial Dominance
2.0Theoretical and Empirical Literature Review
2.1 Conceptual Issues and Theoretical Literature Review
Despite the increased frequency in the use of term hysteresis in Literature, there seem to be no general consensus in the definition and implication of the term. However, a point of agreement is that hysteresis is a deviation from the principle of many macroeconomic doctrines which posit the existence of a constant “natural” rate of unemployment or a “nonaccelerating inflation” rate of unemployment at which inflation rate remains constant and the economy gradually moves towards.
The Natural rate hypothesis as pioneered by Phelps (1967) and Friedman
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The failure of these theories of a constant and mean reverting unemployment rate of unemployment to explain the higher rates of unemployment experienced in Europe led to alternative explanations. The most conspicuous in literature is the known as Labour-market hysteresis. Hysteresis proposes an alternative approach to explaining differences in unemployment. If the actual unemployment rate is influenced by aggregate demand, it follows that natural unemployment can also be influence by demand side …show more content…
(1991), who referred to hysteresis as a random walk with unit root in the unemployment rate. Hysteresis has also been described as non-linear process with multiple stable equilibria (Amable et al. (1995), Ljunqvist and Sargent (1998)). According to them, shocks to unemployment can have both short and long term effects. While some shocks are temporary, others are more permanent and lead the economy unto new equilibrium paths.
Several theoretical frameworks have been used to explain hysteresis in unemployment. Prominent among them is the Membership theory (Lindbeck and Snower, 1985; Blanchard and Summers, 1986). This theory proposes that Wages are determined by insiders in the firm and not by the unemployed outside the firm. The employment form is given as: 1
Where:
= employment in time , m = nominal money, em = expected nominal money.
Equation one indicates that current employment is a function of past employment plus an unexpected change in nominal money. This equation assumes that employment would follow a random walk (Blanchard and Summers, 1986). In summary, the hysteresis hypothesis explains the unemployment dynamics as a non-stationary or unit root process that is not mean
“Even if the Perryman figures were accurate, and all of the workers for the next phase of the project were hired immediately, the US seasonally adjusted unemployment rate would remain at 9.1%—exactly where it is now. ”(7) Working towards economic stability would help rebuild the economy and lower the unemployment
The Fed is often aiming to achieve a goal of maximum employment or near-zero unemployment. However, the goal of maximum employment conflicts with the goal of stable prices. Usually, the Fed aims to reduce prices, but that usually causes unemployment to rise. Generally, attempts are made to guarantee that there aren’t any significant price drops or increases.
Labor and the US Government from 1890-1945 A key aspect of this nation’s history lies in the ever-shifting relationship between its government and its common man, most specifically its labor workers. This relationship plays a crucial role in the understanding of the changes that took place in America between 1890 and 1945. The changing relationship between government and labor workers in the United States between 1890 and 1945 demonstrates a period of unrest and a transitional period in which the focus shifted towards the working class as a result of the greed and corruption of 19th century business elite , as can be seen in the labor strikes requiring government intervention of the late 19th century, the progressives of the early 20th century
The FOMC states that the inflation at the rate of 2 percent is most consistent over the longer run with the Federal Reserve’s statutory mandate. b. The Federal Reserve tried to reestablish stable prices to help with “The Great Recession.” However, in an attempt to lower inflation, it raised short term rates to the point that not only does inflation slow but the economy lapses into a recession. c. “We find that these policies are indeed effective in easing broad financial conditions – not just lowering government bond yields – when policy rates are stuck at the zero lower bound,” wrote John Rogers, Chiara Scotti and Jonathan Wright in a new working
The biggest enemy to the end of the financial crisis and the beginning of an economic recovery is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson himself. Lets forget for a minute that the decision by Paulson and Bernanke to let Lehman Brothers fail was the precipitating event leading to credit markets freezing up and the first round of financial panic. Since then, the two have been working diligently to correct this collosal mistake. But separating actions from words, we see that words are in fact much more potent. Since the end of September, every time Henry Paulson has opened his month, the Dow has dropped on average 196 points.
However, the length of unemployment has remained constant over the same time period, with little fluctuation and even a slight increase in recent years. This raises concerns in the psychological effects on the unemployed, as the longer that Americans are
Furthermore, the diagram illustrates how the public is finding occupations to fill. This decline in unemployment is quite effective mainly due to the fact that more citizens will have money to spend contributing to the airing of the economy. Now that individuals are working, they are becoming consumers in which supply and demand will soon become into effect. This would lead to more jobs being created in order to support the demand for
For example, the neoclassical model, simply put, states that the high cost of labor will decrease the demand for labor. This model assumes that each worker receives the minimum wage which is not completely inaccurate but the assumption can yield imprecise results. Another model is the monopsony model in which the employer’s side is compared to a labor force in which all employees are paid the same. This model can lead to an increase in employment as well as a decline in employment depending on the wage set by the labor force.
Since there is another available loss of jobs effects, the wage has been seen to bring about the case of winners and losers. The winners have been identified as the people who have the access to high wages that is accompanied with no decrease in employment. The people who lose, on the other hand, are found to be the ones bearing the weight of the effects of the disemployment as they lose their jobs and have their hours deducted as well as they find it more difficult to get a job. There are cases where the increment for the winners are big and are non-conforming from the families with low income that are bound to receive help from the policy makers. It might also be that the losses are saturated on the workers with higher income or the parties from whom the policy makers want to distribute the income a fresh.
Part III calls for rethinking the theoretical background in Economics in order to effectively move towards progressive economic policies that could enhance social justice. John Komlos proposes a rethinking of the theoretical concepts in Labor Economics and, as a result, of the policy actions toward unemployment that has a destabilizing effect on society both politically and socially. In his view, a realistic economic theory should liberate itself from the commitment to the concept of the natural rate of unemployment as particularly important in light of the “jobless recovery” in wake of the Great Recession. Besides, given the trends of globalization and technological change that diminished considerably the demand for unskilled labor in the developed world, full employment will otherwise continue to elude us forever. Indeed,
These hypotheses contend against interventions forced on the work market all things considered, for example, unionization, bureaucratic work rules, the lowest pay permitted by law laws, charges, and different regulations that they case dishearten the employing of laborers. Notwithstanding these far reaching hypotheses of unemployment, there are a couple of orders of unemployment that are utilized to all the more definitely model the impacts of unemployment inside of the monetary framework. The principle sorts of unemployment incorporate auxiliary unemployment which concentrates on basic issues in the economy and inefficiencies
At the same time unemployment impacts the economy and the society. Economy experiences decreased spending power of the families and extra expenditure on unemployment benefits, the society meets changes in the mental health, crimes and violence, standard of living and others. There were many studies conducted on dependencies and mechanisms of unemployment. Unemployment can explained by many factors as well as inflation. As one of the reasons of unemployment, inflation within the country can be considered.
According to the Eurostat, in April 2017 almost 20 million people were unemployed. (2017) Both men and women are facing consequences of losing their jobs however, they have different responses to unemployment. As Leana and
The problem with this model is that it doesn’t take into account any other factors that can be the cause of unemployment. That proves that even those models that are valued a lot and considered to be almost certain can still be vague enough to not fully trust it. In response to the counter claim, as mentioned before, models are not supposed to be perfect. They can contain mistakes that can be fixed and polished over time as they are noticed.
Unemployment in Kenya is attributed to a number of factors that include: rapid growth of the population and the labour force, skill mismatch, information problems in the labour market, structural adjustment programs, slow or declining economic growth, and the labour market setup, among others. High population growth rate in Kenya has resulted in a relatively young population and a large population of youth in the population of the working age (Njonjo, 2010). This increase in the youthful population and increasing labour force has led to labour supply outstripping demand. Consequently, unemployment, especially among the youth, has surged. In particular, high population growth has resulted in higher levels of unemployment.