We propose a theory of low-frequency movements in unemployment based on asymmetric real wage rigidities. The theory … generates two main predictions: long-run unemployment increases with (i) a fall in long-run productivity growth and (ii) a rise …-run unemployment over the 1980s and its rise during the late 2000s. …

relates average unemployment to average wage inflation; the curve is virtually vertical for high inflation rates but becomes …, at low inflation. Fourth, when inflation decreases, volatility of unemployment increases whereas the volatility of … inflation decreases: this implies a long-run trade-off also between the volatility of unemployment and that of wage inflation. …