Use the following data. The IMF World Economic Outlook reports the following unemployment rates:
Region 2007 2009
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United States 4.6 5.4
Euro area 7.4 7.3
Japan 3.9 3.9
1. What do these numbers tell you about the phase of the business cycle in the United States, Euro area, and Japan in 2008?
2. What do these numbers tell us about the relative size of the natural unemployment rates in the United States, the Euro Area, and Japan?