25 February 2013

Working Paper on the long-term relationship between capital investment and unemployment

Central Bank of Iceland has published Working Paper nr. 61, “Capital Investment and Equilibrium Unemployment”, by Jósef Sigurdsson.

Econometric analysis of cross-country data reveals a robust long-term relationship between capital investment and unemployment. This paper studies this relationship within a search and matching model of the labour market. In the model developed, firms employ labour for two purposes: for production of a final good and for production of capital. Quantitative analysis shows that an increase in growth of capital-production technology increases capital formation and employment in capital production, reducing unemployment in equilibrium. The model is therefore successful in generating the negative long-run investment-unemployment relationship found in macroeconomic data.

The paper is accessible at the bank‘s website: Working Papers

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