The methodology used in this paper has three distinguishing features: the natural rate of unemployment and potential output are jointly estimated; estimation integrates wage and price data with “real” and structural data; and third, the methodology encompasses many of the methods found in the...

This paper presents empirical estimates of the policy and structural determinants of the natural rate of unemployment in Canada. The paper begins with a discussion of structural features of the economy which impinge on the adjustment of real wages to their equilibrium level. Estimates are...

JEL Cl 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...

In flow models of the labor market, wages are determined by negotiations between workers and employers on the surplus value of a realized match. From this perspective, this paper presents an econometric analysis of the influence of labor market flows on wage formation as an alternative to the...

The paper is an elaborated report on Nicaragua’s potential economic growth. The challenges and idiosyncratic shocks were immense but the policies of better education, labor contracts, and accomplishments in public investments paved the way for movement of the economy. The external...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on U.S. potential growth in the aftermath of the crisis. It discusses recent productivity developments in the nonfarm business sector. The paper uses back-of-the envelope calculations to gauge the effect of diminished financial sector activity on GDP growth in...

This note presents estimates of potential growth and the output gap in Latvia. The estimates suggest that the output has marked below potential in the early 2000s but the output gap becomes positive and large after EU accession. With unemployment still well above its natural level, the output...

This note estimates potential output for France during 1980–2010, using three distinct approaches, and discusses long-term growth prospects. The focus on capital taxation highlights the need for a broader reform of the French tax system to address the features that hamper job growth,...

Bulgaria’s potential output growth in future could be markedly lower, and it may take considerable time for the excess labor and resources to be absorbed by other sectors, in particular by the export sector. This suggests that the natural level of rate of unemployment will rise and remain...

This Selected Issues paper on Sri Lanka underlies the dynamics of growth and external competitiveness. The slowdown in the contribution of sectors that are labor intensive, together with faster growth in sectors that are capital intensive and have higher productivity levels, resulted in total...