Full employment abandoned: shifting sands and policy failures

William Mitchell and Joan Muysken ()

International Journal of Public Policy, 2010, vol. 5, issue 4, 295-313

Abstract: This paper briefly analyses the shifts in economic theory that have moved policy makers from unambiguously pursuing full employment to the current state where full employability is justified as being optimal. We also explore how these theoretical developments translated in practice, culminating in the 1994 OECD Jobs Study, which eschewed a role for macroeconomic policy in reducing unemployment. The final sections of the paper outline an alternative view of macroeconomic theory and policy opportunities. We argue that a central plank in modern macroeconomic policy settings should be the introduction of employment guarantees, which we term the Job Guarantee (JG).

Keywords: full employment; macroeconomic policies; job guarantees; policy failures; economic theories; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; OECD Jobs Study 1994; unemployment; employment guarantees; job guarantee; public policy; governance. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijpubp:v:5:y:2010:i:4:p:295-313

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