Advances in the Theory and Measurement of Unemployment

Abstract

This volume is a collection of papers which were presented and discussed in the Sapir Conference on unemployment conducted in June 1987 at the Tel-Aviv University. The purpose of the conference was to bring together labour economists from areas of research where considerable advance has been made in recent years. In particular we were interested in three ideas which guide economists who wish to understand unemployment. The first is that unemployment is in part, an investment in search, the second that unemployment is necessary to discipline workers and the third that unemployment arises from the interference of government and unions in the labour market. Neither of these notions is new for economists who have grappled with the phenomenon of unemployment for many years. What is new, however, is the way in which these ideas have been modelled and implemented empirically.