--%>
Assignment Help - homework help

Okun's Law Coefficient Is so Large

Why the Okun's Law Coefficient Is so Large? Okun's Law posits not a 1-to-1 relation but a 2.5-to-1 relationship between real GDP growth and the unemployment rate. That is, a one percentage-point fall in the unemployment rate is associated not with a 1 but a 2.5 percent boost in the level of production. Why is this Okun's Law coefficient so large? Why isn't it the case that a one percentage point fall in unemployment produces a one percent rise in output, or even less? One answer is that the unemployment rate, as officially measured, does not count discouraged workers. In a recession, the number of people at work falls, the number of people looking for work rises, and the number of people who are not looking for work because they doubt they could find jobs--but would be working if business conditions were better--rises. Because the conventionally-measured unemployment rate does not include these discouraged workers, more than a 1 percent rise in real GDP is needed to reduce the unemployment rate by 1 percentage point. Moreover, when business returns to normal, firms' initial response is not to hire more employees, but to ask existing employees to work longer hours. So average hours of work per week go up, and the unemployment rate falls by less than one would otherwise expect. Finally, in some industries employing more workers increases production by more than a proportional amount: product design and set-up need to be done only once, no matter how much is produced. Thus businesses which have economies of scale do not need twice as many workers to produce twice as much output.

   Related Questions in Microeconomics

  • Q : Transaction costs in entrepreneurship

    When you became an entrepreneur, in that case the transaction costs incurred in containing a luau for your employees would not comprise: (w) filling your car along with gasoline on the way to picking up the pig and poi. (x) time you u

    		•
  • Q : Price leadership models When all firms

    When all firms in an oligopolistic industry raise and lower prices together, in that case it is most consistent along with: (w) the kinked demand curve. (x) price leadership models. (y) the herd instincts of investors. (z) competitive theories of cart

    		•
  • Q : Long run economic profits at entry

    Unlike firms within pure competition, several unregulated monopolistic firms can potentially: (w) reap long run economic profits when entry barriers prevent competition. (x) generate only normal profits in the long run. (y) sustain consistent economic

    		•
  • Q : Prices of output and economic profit in

    for a purely-competitive decreasing-cost industry in a short run equilibrium in that typical firms temporarily produce economic profits, and the average total costs a typical firm incurs are positively associated to t

    		•
  • Q : Total costs by charges

    When LoCalLoCarbo produces the profit-maximizing quantity and charges the profit-maximizing price, in that case its total costs equal the area of the rectangle as: (i) 0P3cq2. (ii) bdP4P1. (iii) 0P4

    		•
  • Q : Problem on greatest consumer surplus

    Which of the following below goods produces the greatest consumer surplus? (1) Free downloading to pirate your favorite songs. (2) Diamonds. (3) Water. (4) College textbooks. (5) Slices of the pizza. Choose the right answer from th

    		•
  • Q : Basic definition of Production I have a

    I have a problem in economics on Basic definition of Production. Please help me in the following question. Production is the process in which: (i) Technology and human knowledge are utilized to apply energy to convert materials to make them more preci

    		•
  • Q : Elasticity and Revenue At the point of

    At the point of unit elasticity beside the demand curve then a firm faces: (w) profits are always maximized. (x) total revenue is certainly at a maximum. (y) total costs are minimized. (z) All of the above. I need

    		•
  • Q : Income Distribution and Satisfaction

    Some researchers have determined that citizens of some prosperous countries [for example, Japan] explain themselves as “happy” far less frequently, onto average, than citizens of a few poorer nations [for example, Indonesia]. Nevertheless, almost all studi

    		•
  • Q : Price elasticities of demand and higher

    Price elasticities of demand tend to as: (i) fall as higher prices are charged. (ii) rise as higher prices are charged. (iii) almost always be constant. (iv) not be associated to the length of time. (v) not be influenced by price changes.