TY  - JOUR
AU  - Blanchard,Olivier
TI  - European Unemployment: The Evolution of Facts and Ideas
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11750
PY  - 2005
Y2  - November 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11750
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11750.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Olivier J. Blanchard
International Monetary Fund
Economic Counsellor and Director
Research Department
700 19th Street, NW
Rm. 10-700
Washington DC, 20431
Tel: 202-623-7825
Fax: 202-623-7271
E-Mail: blanchar@mit.edu
AB  - In the 1970s, European unemployment started increasing. It increased further in the 1980s, to reach a plateau in the 1990s. It is still high today, although the average unemployment rate hides a high degree of heterogeneity across countries. The focus of researchers and policy makers was initially on the role of shocks. As unemployment remained high, the focus has progressively shifted to institutions. This paper reviews the interaction of facts and theories, and gives a tentative assessment of what we know and what we still do not know.
ER  -