TY  - JOUR
AU  - Blanchard,Olivier Jean
AU  - Diamond,Peter
TI  - The Flow Approach to Labor Markets
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 4000
PY  - 1992
Y2  - February 1992
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4000
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w4000.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

Peter A. Diamond
15 Franklin Rd
Lexington, MA 02420
Tel: 617/253-3363
Fax: 617/253-1330
E-Mail: pdiamond@mit.edu
AB  - The "flow approach" to labor markets builds up from the flows of workers and of jobs. It is based on three essential components, a specification of labor demand in terms of flows of job creation/destruction, a process of matching between workers and firms, and a process of wage determination where wages depend on the labor market prospects of employed workers and firms, We think that this approach gives the right basic picture of unemployment and unemployment dynamics, and of the relation between wage movements and the state of the labor market. The additional richness it naturally delivers also captures important implications of labor market mechanisms for macroeconomics. Finally, its structure is realistic enough to allow for a productive interaction with - and use of - micro-work and micro-evidence in both labor and product markets. This paper shows the structure of the approach and some of its implications. The first section develops a barebone model; the second adds the flesh.
ER  -