In New Classical and New Keynesian thinking, the cross-country pattern of unemployment reflects prevailing equilibrium rates, which in turn are mainly explained by the protective labor market institutions that produce market rigidities. While this orthodox view has framed nearly all of the...

Grounded in the standard supply and demand model, the conventional wisdom assumes a tradeoff between earnings inequality and unemployment, blames low skills for high earnings inequality in the U.S. and U.K., and attributes high European unemployment to institutional constraints. This paper finds...

In the midst of massive job destruction and sharply rising long-term unemployment, a series of unemployment insurance (UI) eligibility extensions were enacted in 2008-09 that raised the regular 26-week limit to as many as 99 weeks. In response, many leading economists and business press...