Investment or Employment Subsidies for Rapid Employment Creation in the European Economic Community?

This Paper discusses specific measures to facilitate employment creation: investment subsidies as compared to employment subsidies. The point of departure is the view that sustained reduction of unemployment to the “natural” level is the top policy goal in terms of the welfare cost of unemployment; and that traditional measures (demand stimulation, real wage cuts, etc.) are either not feasible or not sufficient. If either of these two judgments are not accepted the remainder of this paper has no raison d’être.