Using data on 17 industrial countries from 1982 to 2003 and controlling for a wide array of factors, this paper finds that higher exchange rate volatility increases the unemployment rate. The magnitude of the effect is small. The results are robust to variations in specification.

Using data on 68 developing countries from 1979 to 2008 and controlling for a wide array of factors, this paper finds that a rise in the real interest rate increases the unemployment rate and decreases the employment rate. The magnitude of these effects is small. The results are robust to...

Using data on 74 countries and a large number of controls, this paper finds that a higher degree of ethnic fractionalization is correlated with a higher unemployment rate. This is probably mainly because fractionalization reduces labor market efficiency.

Using data from 69 countries for the years 2000 to 2003, we find that more cooperative industrial relations are likely to reduce the unemployment rate among the total labor force as well as among female and young workers. Furthermore, they appear to lower the share of long-term unemployed in the...