According to Ljungqvist and Sargent (1998), high European unemployment since the 1980s can be explained by a rise in economic turbulence, leading to greater numbers of unemployed workers with obsolete skills. These workers refuse new jobs due to high unemployment benefits. In this paper we...

This paper explains the divergent behavior of European an US unemployment rates using a job market matching model of the labor market with an interaction between shocks an institutions. It shows that a reduction in TF growth rates, an increase in real interest rates, and an increase in tax rates...