Monetary Policy and European Unemployment

Ronald Schettkat () and Rongrong Sun ()

No sdp08002, Schumpeter Discussion Papers from Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library

Abstract: In the long history of rising and persistent unemployment in Europe almost all institutions - employment protection legislation, unions, wages, wage structure, unemployment insurance, etc. - have been alleged and found guilty to have caused this tragic development at some point in time. Later, welfare state institutions in interaction with external shocks were identified as more plausible causes for rising equilibrium unemployment in Europe. Monetary policy has managed to be regarded as innocent. Based on the assertion of the neutrality of money in the medium and long run, the search for causes of European unemployment has shied away from the policy of central banks. But actually the institutional setup regarding monetary policy is very different between the FED and the Bundesbank (ECB). We argue that the interaction of negative external shocks and tight monetary policies may have been the major - although probably not the only - cause of unemployment in Europe remaining a t ever higher levels after each recession. We identify the monetary policy of the Bundesbank as asymmetrical in the sense that the Bank did not actively fight against recessions, but that it dampened recovery periods. Less constraint on growth would have kept German unemployment at lower levels.

Keywords: Production; Employment; Unemployment; Monetary Policy; Central Banks and Their Policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E23 E24 E42 E43 E52 E58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2008-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-eec, nep-lab, nep-mac and nep-mon
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Journal Article: Monetary policy and European unemployment (2009)
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