TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ball,Laurence M.
AU  - Roux,Nicolás De
AU  - Hofstetter,Marc
TI  - Unemployment in Latin America and the Caribbean
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 17274
PY  - 2011
Y2  - August 2011
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17274
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17274.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Laurence M. Ball
Department of Economics
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD 21218
Tel: 410/516-7605
Fax: 410/516-7600
E-Mail: lball@jhu.edu

Nicolas De Roux
Department of Economics
Columbia University
420 West 118th Street
New York, NY  10027
E-Mail: nd2282@columbia.edu

Marc Hofstetter
Faculdad de Economia
Universidad de los Andes
Carrera 1 No 18A-70
Bogota, Colombia
E-Mail: mahofste@uniandes.edu.co
AB  - This study constructs a new data set on unemployment rates in Latin America and the Caribbean and then explores the determinants of unemployment. We compare different countries, finding that unemployment is influenced by the size of the rural population and that the effects of government regulations are generally weak. We also examine large, persistent increases in unemployment over time, finding that they are caused by contractions in aggregate demand. These demand contractions result from either disinflationary monetary policy or the defense of an exchange-rate peg in the face of capital flight. Our evidence supports hysteresis theories in which short-run changes in unemployment influence the natural rate.
ER  -