Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/129518 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper Series No. 11-2
Publisher: 
University of Mannheim, Department of Economics, Mannheim
Abstract: 
The divergence of unemployment rates between the United States and Europe coincided with a substantial acceleration in capital-embodied technical change in the late 1970s. Evidence suggests that European economies have lagged behind the United States in the adoption and usage of new technologies. This paper argues that the obsolescence of an economy's technological capital is a key determinant for the way the economy's labor market reacts to an acceleration in capital-embodied technical change. The proposed framework offers a novel explanation for the observed divergence of unemployment rates across economies that are hit by the very same shock (i.e. the acceleration in embodied technical change) but differ in their technology adoption. The results of the paper challenge the popular, but controversial, view that blames generous unemployment insurance for high unemployment in Europe. The analysis shows that the observed institutional heterogeneity is insufficient to explain the diverse evolution of unemployment rates.
Subjects: 
unemployment
matching
turbulence
technology choice
capital-embodied technical change
skill loss
JEL: 
J24
J64
O33
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
482.68 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.