--%>
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 : Who tries to buy low in expectation for

    A person who tries to buy low within expectation of being capable to sell high later is: (w) profiteer. (x) speculator. (y) financial intermediary. (z) capital supplier. Hello guys I want your advice. Please recommend some views fo

    		•
  • Q : Depended price on present value The

    The prospects for getting rich by buying assets at prices substantially below their present values are dampened by the: (w) special advantages you have in securing investment information. (x) lack of competition for information regarding profit opport

    		•
  • Q : Diminishing the Marginal Utility of

    The additional dollar of income would be most probable to mean more to a usual poor individual than to a rich one if: (i) Efforts to raise income are proportional to the value of additional dollar earned. (ii) Each and every individual had similar total utilities from

    		•
  • Q : Contribution Standard for Income

    Staunch defenders of the contribution standard for income distribution would not argue that: (w) people must receive income at least commensurate along with survival needs. (x) equity requires people to be rewarded as per their marginal productivity.

    		•
  • Q : Relatively price inelastic and consumer

    When demand for a consumer good is relatively price inelastic, in that case the: (i) total spending of consumers will decline when the price rises. (ii) demand curve is linear and vertical. (iii) price of the good is determined through supply alone. (

    		•
  • Q : Market Power and Demand for Labor All

    All of the given might causes labor markets to be non-competitive except: (i) Backward bending labor supply curves. (ii) Unions and employer trade associations. (iii) Monopolistic power exercised by the firm. (iv) Monopsonistic power exercised by the

    		•
  • Q : Equilibrium price when demand increase

    When an increase in demand arises at similar time as a decrease in supply, in that case equilibrium price: (w) falls, and equilibrium quantity is unsure. (x) increases, and equilibrium quantity is uncertain. (y) remai

    		•
  • Q : Linear demand curves and elasticity

    When price falls along a negatively sloped, there straight-line demand curve, then slope: (w) is constant, and elasticity of demand falls. (x) and elasticity of demand both rise. (y) falls, and elasticity of demand rises. (z) rises, and elasticity of

    		•
  • Q : Set price equal to produce output

    Assume that HoloIMAGine’s patents for holographic technology lapsed, as well as entry of new competitors within this market eroded the demand for HoloIMAGine technology, even though the firm retains several market power since competitors’

    		•
  • Q : Problem on cost curve The following

    The following diagram illustrates the short-run average total cost curves for five different plant sizes of any firm. The shape of each curve reflects: 1) increasing returns, followed by diminishing returns. 2) economies of scale, followed by diseconomies of scale. 3)

    		•