Bibliography

Abstract

WITH THE 2008 ELECTION LIKELY TO LEAD TO DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF THE LEGISLATIVE and executive branches, it is time for a bold new vision of the economy-one that will reduce the increased inequality that has grown in tandem with our national wealth. It is time to take a big step toward shared prosperity. Some promising progressive proposals have been crafted.1 However, battered by three decades of conservative assaults, including well-planned attacks on government for the people, Democrats often exhibit timidity rather than temerity. The presidential aspirants do raise economic issues such as health care, taxes, wage stagnation, middle-class insecurity, income inequality, and the negative effects of trade on jobs and communities-and, in the case of John Edwards, concern about poverty and the “two Americas.” Dennis Kucinich does mention chronic unemployment and the need for substantial job creation, and Joseph Biden favors the creation of three million “green collar jobs.” But full employment-long central in Democratic Party platforms-has all but vanished from the discourse.2 Also missing, except from Kucinich’s platform, is a strong emphasis on building up and maintaining our depleted physical infrastructure and undeveloped and often nonexistent human services.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10957960701834399

Macroeconomics

Abstract

After highlighting the failure of mainstream economic theory in dealing with the rising global inequality and economic struggles brought about by neoliberal economic policies, the paper presents the outline of an alternative policy proposal to create full employment and price stability, and to restore financial sovereignty to developing countries. Under the Employer of Last Resort (ELR) program, the government guarantees employment to all through a decentralized community-based job creation policy. Projects are selected by local community groups based on community needs and the availability of skills in the unemployment pool. Funding is provided by a central/federal fiscal authority and requires policy coordination with the central bank.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0486613408319918

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This Primer introduces you to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA 2005). It is written in simple language and addressed to a wide audience: labourers, activists, journalists, researchers, and all concerned citizens.

NREGA 2005 is a law whereby anyone who is willing to do unskilled manual labour at the statutory minimum wage is entitled to being employed on public works within 15 days. If employment is not provided, an unemployment allowance has to be paid. However, the work guarantee in NREGA 2005 is subject to an initial limit of “100 days per household per year”.

Workers’ organisations have been demanding a national Employment Guarantee Act for many years, along with other legal safeguards for the right to work. The NREGA 2005 was enacted by the Indian Parliament after a long struggle, and much resistance from some quarters (including sections of the corporate sector, the business media, and the Finance Ministry). The Act is by no means perfect. In fact, it is a heavily “diluted” version of an earlier draft, prepared in August 2004 by concerned citizens. Nevertheless, NREGA 2005 is a potential tool of empowerment for rural labourers: guaranteed employment can protect them from economic insecurity, strengthen their bargaining power, and help them to organise and fight for their rights.

None of this will happen, however, if NREGA 2005 remains on paper, or if it is implemented in a half- hearted manner. The history of every social legislation is that it takes a long struggle for people to enforce their entitlements, even after the law is in place. The success of NREGA 2005 requires a massive process of public mobilisation. In particular, it depends on the strength of organised demand for guaranteed employment. The first task is to understand the Act, and especially the rights that we have under the Act. The main purpose of this Primer is to facilitate this learning process.

https://www.jobguarantee.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1.2.2.-NREGA-P...

Asia Development Human Rights Implementation India

Abstract

The experience of the Jagrut Adivasi Dalit Sangathan in Madhya Pradesh shows the power of grassroots organisational work in activating the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Levels of NREGA employment in the Sangathan areas are as high as 85 days per household per year, and nearly half of all working households have got 100 days of work. They also earn the minimum wage. The Act can also be an opportunity to promote overall rural development and alter the balance of power in village society.

https://www.jobguarantee.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Khera-2008-Emp...

Development India Macroeconomics

Abstract

Iran’s constitution emphasizes social justice and obliges government to provide a job for every citizen. But in fact, the government’s duty to provide jobs has shifted to government support for a measure designed to create new employment opportunities through subsidized loans to the private sector. This policy has not been successful to date, and the current stock of unemployed workers is about three million–12.75 percent of the country’s labor force. To realize the desire of the Iranian people to achieve full employment and social justice, the government must implement employment guarantee schemes, or EGS, in the most deprived areas. Elected town and village councils can design and manage the public works with the help of other government, as well as nongovernment, institutions. Programs can be financed using less than 10 percent of the annual oil-exporting revenue that is deposited in the Oil Stabilization Fund.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1087428

Asia Macroeconomics

Abstract

This document describes in detail how reformulation to a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) can be made in order to analyze the multiplier effects of a new sector. A different input composition, or technology, of the sector makes a conventional analysis of final-demand injections on existing sectors invalid. We show that the reformulation—so-called hypothetical integration—is an efficient way to incorporate the difference into the SAM, rather than costly full-scale rebalancing. We apply this method to the case of the Expanded Public Works Programme in South Africa, and show that the proposed approach effectively represents the labor intensity requirement of the program and a new-factor income distribution.

https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/UNDP-Levy/South_Africa/Appendix_D_R...

Development Gender Modeling Quantitative

Abstract

This case study identifies critical elements to the passage of the NREGA, an act guaranteeing employment to all Indian citizens. It highlights the role of institutions, events, and actors.

https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/indias-national-rural-empl...

Human Rights Implementation India

Abstract

To put an economy on an equitable growth path, economic development must be based on social efficiency, equity, and job creation. It has been shown that unemployment has far-reaching effects, all leading to an inequitable distribution of well-being. But many economists assume that unemployment tends toward a natural rate below which it cannot go without creating inflation. The paper considers a particular employment strategy: a government job creation program, such as an employment guarantee or employer-of-last-resort scheme, that would satisfy the noninflationary criteria. The paper analyzes the international experience of government job creation programs, with particular emphasis on the cases of Argentina and India. We conclude by considering the application of an employer-of-last-resort policy to the developing world and as a vehicle to meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1281476

Macroeconomics

Abstract

The goal of full employment once occupied a central posltlon on the agenda of progressives, including those in the governments of the United States and Western Europe. For example, “the right to a useful and remunerative job” was the first item in Franklin Roosevelt’s Economic Bill of Rights (1944/1950). The “right to work” was also recognized as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations 1948; Harvey 1989; 2002). It was widely accepted at the time that this goal translated into an achievable and sustainable unemployment rate of 2 to 3 percent (Beveridge 1945, 21, 127-128; Clark 1949, 14). In many countries in Western Europe, this goal was largely achieved. For a number of decades after World War II, unemployment was below 3 percent often substantially. This was not the case in the United States. Although the achievement of full employment was a prominent goal of the Democratic Party throughout this period, rates below 4 percent were achieved only in the immediate post-war years and during the Korean and Vietnam wars. An example of the rise and fall of full employment as a progressive policy goal is its status in Democratic Party platforms from a central position to complete disappearance in recent decades (Harvey 2007; Mucciaroni 1990; Weir 1992).1 The stagflation of the 1970s weakened the faith of policy makers both in the achievability of full employment and in Keynesian demand management, the strategy on which progressives had relied since the 1940s (Harvey 2007; Mucciaroni 1990; Weir 1992). Moreover, since unemployment affects both the level of social need and the availability of resources to meet it (Ginsburg 2000; Goldberg 2000; 2002), the viability of the welfare state was also called into question. The emergence of inflation as a primary concern of public policy brought a shift in focus from full employment to price stability and a tendency to redefine full employment itself. Rather than a job for all, it came to mean an unemployment rate believed to be consistent with price stability. This was invariably higher than the rate

https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2007.11507091

Macroeconomics

Abstract

The prevailing view among both progressive and conservative economists in the United States today is that unemployment cannot be driven much below the 4 to 6 percent range – well above the 2% level that progressive economists in the 1940s considered achievable (Clark et al. 1949, 14). This is an uncomfortable reminder that in an earlier era progressives had higher hopes concerning the possibilities for eliminating involuntary unemployment than they do today. In the 1940s, progressives thought they could guarantee the availability of enough good jobs to provide decent work for all job-seekers, thereby moving from a world of perennial job shortages to one of sustained “full employment” in which the “right to work” would be secured. Today, few progressive economists (and fewer still of those who have the ear of progressive policy makers) think that goal is achievable. Instead, they implicitly or explicitly accept the view that job shortages are either inevitable in a market economy or cannot be eliminated except by making unacceptable sacrifices in job quality, and that public policy accordingly should aim to ameliorate the bad effects of those shortages rather than eliminate them. Why does this matter? It matters because the achievement of full, and decent, employment occupies a foundational role in the vision of a good society – that has guided progressive reform efforts ever since the end of World War II – was built in the 1940s, and for which no satisfactory substitute has yet to been found.

https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511511257.006

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This working paper provides a survey of the theoretical underpinnings for the various employment guarantee schemes, and discusses full employment policy experiences in the United States, Sweden, India, Argentina, and France. The theoretical and policy developments are delineated in a historical context. The paper concludes by identifying some questions that still need to be addressed in the context of the global political economy.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.985162

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The first great demand of a better social order, I should say, then, is the guarantee of the right, to every individual who is capable of it, to work – not the mere legal right which is enforceable so that the individual will always have the opportunity to engage in some form of useful activity, and if the ordinary economic machinery breaks down through a crisis of some sort, then it is the duty of the state to come to the rescue and see that individuals have something to do that is worth while – not breaking stones in a stoneyard, or something else to get a soup ticket with, but some kind of productive work which a self-respecting person may engage in with interest and with more than mere pecuniary profit. Whatever may be said about the fortune of what has technically been called socialism, it would seem to be simply part of ordinary common sense that society should reorganize itself to make sure that individuals can make a living and be kept going, not by charity, but by having productive work to do. ([1919] 1939, 420-421)

https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2007.11507038

Human Rights Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The employer of last resort (ELR) policy proposal, also referred to as the job guarantee or public sector employment, is promoted by its supporters as an alternative to unemployment as the primary means of currency stability. The core of the ELR proposal is that a job would be provided to all who wanted one at a decent, fixed wage; the quantity of workers employed in the program would be allowed to rise and fall counter to the economy’s cycles as some of the workers moved from public to private sector work or vice versa depending upon the state of the economy. Supporters have played an important advisory role in Argentina’s Jefes de Hogar jobs program that has provided jobs to over two million citizens – or five percent of the population; though there are some important differences, the Jefes program has many similarities with the ELR proposal (Tcherneva and Wray 2005).

While ELR proponents argue the program would not necessarily generate budget deficits (Mitchell and Wray 2004), the program is based upon Abba Lerner’s (1943) concept of functional finance in which it is the results of the government’s spending and taxing policies in terms of their effects upon employment, inflation, and macroeconomic stability that matter (Nell and Forstater 2003). This is in contrast to the more widely promoted concept of “sound” finance, in which the presence of a fiscal deficit is itself considered undesirable. Rather than not being able to “afford” an ELR program, ELR proponents argue that societies would do better to consider whether they can “afford” involuntary unemployment. The proposed ELR’s approach of hiring “off the bottom” is argued to be a more direct means for eliminating excess, unused labor capacity than traditional “military Keynesianism” or primarily “pump-priming” fiscal policies, particularly given how the U.S. economy struggles to create jobs for the poor even during economic expansions (Pigeon and Wray 1998, 1999; Bell and Wray 2004). As Wray (2000) notes, “How many missiles would the government have to order before a job trickles down to Harlem?”. More traditional forms of fiscal stimulus or stabilization are still useful and complementary to an ELR program, though proponents argue that only the latter could ensure that enough jobs would be available at all times such that every person desiring a job would be offered one while also potentially adding to the national output.

Regarding macroeconomic stability, it is the fluctuating buffer stock of ELR workers and the fixed wage that are argued by proponents to be the key features that ensure the program’s impact would be stabilizing. With an effectively functioning buffer stock, the argument goes, as the economy expands ELR spending will stop growing or even decline – countering the inflation pressures normally induced by expansion – as some ELR workers take jobs in the private sector. Regarding the fixed wage, traditional government expenditures effectively set a quantity and allow markets to set a price (as in contracting for weapons); in contrast, the ELR program allows markets to set the quantity as the government provides an infinitely elastic demand for labor, while the price (the ELR base wage) is set exogenously and is unaffected by market pressures. Together, proponents argue, the buffer stock of ELR workers and the fixed wage thereby encourage loose labor markets even at full employment. Aside from an initial increase as the program is being implemented (the size of which will depend upon the wage offered compared to the existing lowest wage and whether the program is made available to all workers), proponents suggest the program would not generate inflationary pressures and thus would promote both full employment and price stability.

The purpose of this paper is to model quantitatively the potential macroeconomic stabilization properties of an ELR program utilizing the Fairmodel (Fair 1994, 2004). The paper builds upon the earlier Fairmodel simulations of the ELR in Majewski and Nell (2000) and Fullwiler (2003, 2005). Here, a rather simple version of the ELR program is incorporated into the Fairmodel and simulated. The quantitative effects of the ELR program within the Fairmodel are measured via simulation within historical business cycles and in comparison to other policy rules for both fiscal and monetary policies through stochastic simulation.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1722991

Inflation Macroeconomics Modeling Quantitative

Abstract

While Hyman P. Minsky is best known for his work on financial instability, he was also intimately involved in the postwar debates about fiscal policy and what would become the War on Poverty. Indeed, at the University of California, Berkeley, he was a vehement critic of the policies of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and played a major role in developing an alternative. Minsky insisted that the high investment path chosen by postwar fine-tuners would generate macroeconomic instability, and that the War on Poverty would never lower poverty rates significantly. In retrospect, he was correct on both accounts. Further, he proposed high consumption and an employer of last resort policy as essential ingredients of any coherent strategy for achieving macro stability and poverty elimination. This paper summarizes Minsky’s work in this area, focusing on his writings from the early 1960s through the early 1970s in order to explore the path not taken.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1014163

Macroeconomics

Abstract

Based on an evaluation of Argentina’s programme, Jefes de Hogar, and India’s Maharashtra’s Employment Guarantee Scheme, explores the significance of the policies for promotion of employment and how developing countries could create jobs.

https://www.ilo.org/empelm/pubs/WCMS_113904/lang--en/index.htm

Development Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

Based on an evaluation of Argentina’s programme, Jefes de Hogar, and India’s Maharashtra’s Employment Guarantee Scheme, explores the significance of the policies for promotion of employment and how developing countries could create jobs.

https://www.ilo.org/publications/employer-last-resort-programme-could-...

Development India Macroeconomics South America

Abstract

There is now widespread recognition that in most countries, private-sector investment has not been able to absorb surplus labor. This is all the more the case for poor unskilled people. Public works programs and employment guarantee schemes in South Africa, India, and other countries provide jobs while creating public assets. In addition to physical infrastructure, an area that has immense potential to create much-needed jobs is that of social service delivery and social infrastructure. While unemployment and enforced “idleness” persist, existing time-use survey data reveal that people around the world—especially women and children—spend long hours performing unpaid work. This work includes not only household maintenance and care provisioning for family members and communities, but also time spent that helps fill public infrastructural gaps—for example, in the energy, health, and education sectors. This paper suggests that, by bringing together public job creation, on the one hand, and unpaid work, on the other, well-designed employment guarantee policies can promote job creation, gender equality, and pro-poor development.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1016197

Environmental Sustainability Macroeconomics

Abstract

This thesis examines the micro-social effects of the main emergency policy implemented in Argentina in 2002 -the Plan Jefes y Jefas- on its female beneficiaries. The main finding is that while the program reproduced contemporary limited social planning, its community centers also provided a unique opportunity for poor women’s access to contexts of socialization and reciprocity. This marked a before-and-after point in their lives, allowing for potential changes in their lives.

https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/551628

Gender Implementation South America

Abstract

In many ‘developing’ countries widespread poverty is linked to landlessness and unemployment. Two possible responses to such poverty are employment guarantee (or public works) programmes and cash transfers. In general, low-wage job creation is the preferred option of both elites and citizens, but in South Africa cash transfers through a minimum income programme might, perversely, be more viable politically and effective more broadly in terms of poverty alleviation. The relative viability and efficacy of employment guarantees and cash transfers depends primarily on prevailing wages in the ‘market’. In a high-wage economy such as South Africa, the political power of organised labour is generally sufficient to prevent low-wage employment creation in public works programmes. In the South African context – in contrast to low-wage settings such as India or Ethiopia – the extension of public welfare might be more viable than an employment guarantee, although the political obstacles should not be under-estimated.

https://doi.org/10.1504/ijewe.2006.009357

Development Macroeconomics

Abstract

Adopting a conventional view of the need for governments to raise the funds they spend, I have argued that a well-designed Job Guarantee (JG) programme could be funded entirely from the savings and additional revenues it would generate (Harvey, 1989; 1995). In contrast, JG advocates working in the Post Keynesian tradition have grounded their proposal for funding such a programme on a more expansive view of the fiscal capacities of currency-issuing governments. Based on that view, they have argued that a JG programme could be funded without relying on any of the funding sources identified in my analysis of the issue (Mitchell and Wray, 2005; Tcherneva and Wray, 2005; Mitchell and Watts, 2005). This article argues that these two approaches to the funding issue are not inconsistent with one another and that they jointly reinforce the conclusion that a JG programme could achieve full employment without generating unacceptable levels of inflation.

https://doi.org/10.1504/ijewe.2006.009360

Macroeconomics

Abstract

Why not a Green Jobs Corps? There are obstacles, and the plan presented by this economist is controversial. But given the price paid in environmental degradation under current policies, we may have to start thinking, as they say, outside the box.

https://doi.org/10.2753/cha0577-5132490405

Environmental Sustainability Macroeconomics

Abstract

This article evaluates the strategies of guaranteeing unconditional basic income against those of guaranteeing employment. It is argued that, moral justifications notwithstanding, an open-ended commitment to either policy requires a clear grasp of its macroeconomic effects and institutional aspects. The tax-driven approach to money (also known as ‘modern money’) reveals that, while government funding for either proposal is not ‘operationally’ constrained, it produces disparate economic outcomes, depending on the program design of the universal guarantee. A modern money critique of the basic income proposal demonstrates that, in a monetary production economy, the unconditional supply of the monetary unit is inherently inflationary. By contrast, job guarantees can provide an important safety net by simultaneously stabilising prices. Additionally, job guarantees offer an institutional vehicle for achieving other social goals that are important to all advocates of universal assurances. The paper concludes that, to provide for all members of society, a joint policy option is necessary and outlines the broad contours of such a policy.

https://doi.org/10.1504/ijewe.2006.009358

Human Rights Macroeconomics

Abstract

Since 1997, a number of researchers (many of whom are now associated with the University of Missouri-Kansas City) have been advocating a job creation program that has been variously called the employer of last resort (ELR), job guarantee, public service employment, or buffer stock employment program. These proposals were based on earlier work by Hyman Minsky, Abba Lerner, Phillip Harvey, Wendell Gordon, and Charles Killingsworth and recalled the US New Deal experience with job creation programs. Most of the work so far has been at the theoretical level (Harvey 1989 and Ginsburg 1983 are important exceptions). However, Argentina recently adopted a job creation program that is explicitly based on our proposals. This paper provides a preliminary analysis of Argentina’s experience. Through most of the 1990s, Argentina was the poster child for the Washington Consensus, adopting a currency board, opening markets, downsizing government, and freeing capital. After its economy collapsed and unemployment and poverty skyrocketed, it implemented a limited employer of last resort program called Plan Jefes de Hogar, to provide jobs to poor heads of households. A Labor Ministry economist, Daniel Kostzer, had become familiar with the ELR proposals developed in the US and helped to design and implement the Jefes program. By most measures, the program has been a tremendous success, providing jobs to 2 million workers, or about 5% of the population and 13% of the labor force.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1010145

Implementation Macroeconomics South America

Abstract

(2005). Employer of Last Resort: A Response to My Critics. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 256-264.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2005.11506790

Macroeconomics

Abstract

In the past few years there have been a number critical assessmenis of the job creation proposal that has been variously termed the Job Guarantee (JG), Public Service Employment (PSE), Buffer Stock Employment (BSE) or Employer of Last Resort (ELR). The terms are interchangeable and reflect the evolution of the literature. Mitchell (1998) uses JG to describe his approach to full employment whereas the ELR terminology has been used by Wray (1998). The term ELR was used in the US as long ago as the New Deal, and was revived by Hyman Minsky in the mid-1960s. Wray now prefers PSE. While ELR is accurate in one sense, it also provides a negative connotation that neither PSE nor JG implies. Some of the more important explications of JG/PSE/ELR include Gordon (1997), Mosler (1997-98), Mitchell (1998), Wray (1998), Forstater (2000) and Harvey (2000). The most recent critiques include Sawyer (2003) and Ramsey (2002-3), while earlier critics include Aspromourgos (2000), Kadmos and O’Hara (2000), King (2000), Kriesler and Halevi (2001), and Mehrling (2000). In this paper, we use the term JG, reviewing the progress of the development of the JG approach and responding to what we believe to be the main thrust of our critics, which we summarise as: 1. JG increases employment by stimulating aggregate demand, hence, operates no differently from any ‘Keynesian’ fiscal policy or monetary policy; 2. JG could increase employment but it cannot enhance (improve) price stability – it is still subject to a ‘NAIRU’ constraint of some sort; 3. JG is at best a ‘make work’ program, or more negatively, another name for unemployment and, at best, replaces unemployment with underemployment; 4. ELR proposals have ignored the substantial logistical problems generated by cyclical fluctuation of participation in the program; 5. Supporters of the JG have ignored impacts on long-term government finance imposed by the government budget constraint (GBC); and 6. Supporters of the JG ignore the ‘fact’ that it will violate the external balance goal. Other critics argue that all the benefits of JG could be achieved with a basic income guarantee (BIG), without the negative impacts imposed by the ‘involuntary servitude’ of a JG. We do not consider this issue in this paper but direct readers to two recent and comprehensive repudiations of BIG by Mitchell and Watts (2004) and Tcherneva (2003). In the following sections, we consider criticisms 1 to 6 in some detail.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1010149

Macroeconomics

Abstract

Argentina was proclaimed to be the success story of IMF austerity and market liberalization policies for many years till it experienced economic meltdown. Argentinean government implemented a limited job guarantee program to deal with the problems of unemployment and poverty. This article discusses the job guarantee program and its effects mainly on the females of the poor families.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1009594

Gender Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

While we welcome a chance to discuss the merits of employer of last resort (ELR) proposals, it is difficult to respond to Malcolm Sawyer’s (2003) assessment.1 First, many of his critiques are superficial because he attempts to cover just about every issue even tangentially related to ELR. Second, he has relied to an alarming degree on critics of ELR (Aspromourgos 2000; Kadmos and O’Hara 2000; King 2001; Kriesler and Halevi 2001; and Mehrling 2000) for statements of the principles of ELR and, thus, misrepresents the program we endorse. In our response, we focus only on what we believe is the main thrust of his critique, that

https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2005.11506788

Australia Macroeconomics

Abstract

This paper describes what has been called the “employer of last resort” (ELR) proposal as a policy to achieve true full employment without inflation. We answer three main concerns about the program: 1) How can the government afford to hire all those who might want to work? 2) Won’t full employment cause inflation? 3) What will all those workers do?In building the case for ELR, we show that the purpose of the program is to supplement, not replace, alternative employment, such as that provided by private firms or other government programs. Any country that operates with its own currency and adopts a floating exchange rate can implement an ELR program, but each nation might formulate the specifics of its program in accordance with its own political and economic situation. Argentina is one such nation. The authors examine the institutional design of the Plan Jefes de Hogar and its impact on the Argentinean economy, and they draw parallels between the theoretical proposals for ELR and the practical experience with Jefes. Argentina’s case demonstrates possible ways in which ELR can advance a sense of civic duty, citizenship, social cohesion, reciprocity, and community involvement. Furthermore, ELR can contribute to the redefinition of the meaning of work by commanding recognition that certain forms of labor, such as caring and community involvement, are socially useful. Finally, we uncover some deficiencies of the Jefes program and assess its ability to ensure true full employment and price stability.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1009618

Macroeconomics South America

Abstract

In 1996 the Government of Malawi launched the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF), which supported the construction of village assets and a public works programme. This report presents the findings of a review of MASAF by a multi-disciplinary team from three well-known research institutions. The team collected data from key informant interviews, a review of project monitoring data and studies at 121 sub- project sites consisting of a checklist survey of the state of repair of the asset, a key informant interview, a questionnaire survey of 9 households and focus group discussions at 15 sites. This provided a unique source of data on the performance of an African social fund. The report assesses the degree to which the project provided benefits to the poor and contributed to pro-poor institutional development. The conclusions are mixed. A high proportion of the resources provided benefits in terms of new infrastructure or employment in public works. There was not much leakage of funds to the better off, nor was there much targeting of the poorest and most vulnerable. The report discusses the relationship between MASAF, the national government, local authorities and community structures. It explores how a demand-led approach interacted with sector planning and the devolution of powers to local government. It also explores the degree to which MASAF succeeded in democratising decision-making. One unexpected finding was the great influence of traditional leaders. The report concludes by discussing lessons for the implementation of Malawiís poverty reduction strategy. The report is of particular relevance to people with a special interest in Malawi and those working on institutional development in Africa.

https://www.ids.ac.uk/download.php?file=files/Rr56.pdf

Africa Implementation Macroeconomics Quantitative

Abstract

The authors used theoretical models to organize the diverse unemployment literature, and meta-analytic techniques were used to examine the impact of unemployment on worker well-being across 104 empirical studies with 437 effect sizes. Unemployed individuals had lower psychological and physical well-being than did their employed counterparts. Unemployment duration and sample type (school leaver vs. mature unemployed) moderated the relationship between mental health and unemployment, but the current unemployment rate and the amount of unemployment benefits did not. Within unemployed samples, work-role centrality, coping resources (personal, social, financial, and time structure), cognitive appraisals, and coping strategies displayed stronger relationships with mental health than did human capital or demographic variables. The authors identify gaps in the literature and propose directions for future unemployment research.

https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-90https://doi.org/10.90.1.53

Health Macroeconomics Quantitative

Abstract

The job numbers in the United States and around the globe continue to look bleak. Not only are the absolute numbers dismal, but also job growth has dragged on with no hope for a substantial change in prospects. This situation supports the view that we are facing a long-term problem that requires critical and creative problem-solving responses. Since unemployment is the major cause of poverty, many of our most pressing social problems are directly or indirectly related to joblessness. I argue that not only the quantity but also the quality of jobs is at issue.

https://www.levyinstitute.org/publications/the-case-for-an-environment...

Environmental Sustainability Macroeconomics

Abstract

This article evaluates the strategies of guaranteeing unconditional basic income against those of guaranteeing employment. It is argued that, moral justifications notwithstanding, an open-ended implementation of these universal guarantees does not stand a chance without a clear grasp of their macroeconomic effects and institutional aspects. Drawing on the tax-driven approach to money (also known as ‘modern money’) the paper explains that government funding for either proposal is not ‘operationally’ constrained. Financing, however, is important as it produces disparate economic outcomes, depending on the program design of the universal guarantee. A modern money critique of the basic income proposal reveals that, in a monetary production economy, the unconditional supply of the monetary unit is inherently inflationary. By contrast, job guarantees can provide an important safety net by simultaneously stabilizing prices. Additionally, job guarantees offer an institutional vehicle for achieving other social goals that are important to all advocates of universal assurances. The paper offers further points of comparison and concludes that, to provide for all members of society, a joint policy option is necessary. Thus, the broad contours of what such a policy might look like are herein advanced.

https://edi.bard.edu/research/notes/cfeps-wp-49-the-economic-viability...

Inflation Macroeconomics

Abstract

During the past two decades a broad-based advocacy movement has coalesced around the proposal that all members of society should be guaranteed an unconditional basic income (BI) sufficient to support a modest but dignified existence. Grounded on a loss of faith in the ability of market societies to provide decent paid employment for everyone who needs it, BI advocates promote the BI idea as a more direct and environmentally friendly way of eradicating poverty and a more equitable and liberating way of ensuring everyone’s right to pursue personally rewarding work. In this paper I argue that BI advocates have been too ready to reject the conventional definition of the right to work, too willing to embrace the assumption that it cannot be secured by reasonable means, and too quick to conclude that a BI guarantee would provide an adequate substitute for it. I do not, however, reject the BI idea. Rather than viewing it as a substitute for securing the right to work, I argue that it should be seen as a foundation for policies designed to secure what I refer to as the right to income support. Cast in this role, I argue that BI proposals not only have merit but would serve as a mutually reinforcing complement to proposals to secure the right to work.

https://rutgerspolicyjournal.org/2017/03/02/right-work-and-basic-incom...

Human Rights Macroeconomics

Abstract

In this paper Bill Mitchell and Martin Watts compare and contrast two policy responses to rising income insecurity in the form of proposals to introduce a universal Basic Income and proposals to introduce a Job Guarantee. The paper demonstrates that income insecurity should be solved at its root by focussing on the causes of unemployment and that the only constraints on achieving full employment are ideological and political.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252251435_A_comparison_of_the...

Australia Macroeconomics

Abstract

Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) includes a community ‘public works’ component aimed at developing communal infrastructure and assets in areas of chronic food shortage. Annex 2 of this environmental and social management framework sets out typical adverse impacts that need to be avoided, managed and mitigated to ensure optimum results from the types of subproject expected. Annex 4 sets out a range of mitigating measures that have been found to be useful to offset potential adverse impacts. Detailed mitigating measures recommended to offset adverse impacts for specific types of sub-project will be integrated into the technical specifications, work norms and information kits guiding the implementation of the public works under the PSNP. Training materials and technical specifications, work norms, and information kits will be the primary tool to incorporate mitigation measures and to minimize adverse effects. Training may be needed in developing a basic watershed or catchment area plan and design and sequencing of integrated subprojects for soil and water conservation and watershed regeneration, including: Gully treatment prescriptions, water harvesting structures, rooftop catchment systems, appropriate irrigation technologies, terracing and bunding methods, check dams and other control structures, biological measures for soil and water conservation, and plantation methods and management for effective soil conservation. In order to facilitate the environmental management of medical wastes associated with rehabilitation of rural clinics, a Medical Waste Management Guide for Rural Health Centres will be produced by the PSNP, to establish the process for preparation of waste management plans. Similar guidance will be provided for the development of Integrated Pest Management plans, in connection with projects involving small scale irrigation systems. Farmers may need training on managing the increased number of inputs, including fertilizers, pesticides and their alternatives, management of these systems, the development of water user committees and follow-up extension support to assist farmers and DAs in developing irrigated agriculture, and managing the environmental aspects.

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/306291468751547437/Ethiopia-...

Africa Environmental Sustainability Implementation

Abstract

One of the central themes of the conference is how to achieve full employment and ecological sustainability. This paper assesses three alternative macroeconomic policy approaches in terms of how well they-resolve these two policy objectives. The three approaches assessed are: (1) the NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment) approach to macroeconomic policy setting; (2) the Basic Income approach (guaranteed income for all); and (3) the Job Guarantee approach (employer of last resort). It is argued that: – the NAIRU approach fails on both fronts; – the Basic Income approach has the potential to improve distributional equity, though not as effectively as the Job Guarantee, but does not ensure full employment or ecological sustainability; – the Job Guarantee is the best means of achieving full employment but, in order to bring about ecological sustainability, needs to be supplemented by the imposition of natural resource throughput constraints.

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/IJEWE.2005.007491

Environmental Sustainability Macroeconomics

Abstract

There is no doubt that employment generation has emerged as not only the most important socio-economic issue in the country today, but also the most pressing political concern. The mandate of the recent elections is clear on this: the people of the country have decisively rejected policies that have implied reduced employment opportunities and reduced access to and quality of public goods and services.

https://doi.org/10.2307/3518258

Implementation India Macroeconomics

Abstract

Resumen es: El articulo ofrece una evaluacion a la politica propuesta en algunos circulos poskeynesianos en los ultimos anos sobre un pleno empleo basado en la pers…

https://www.jstor.org/stable/42779049

Macroeconomics

Abstract

Proposals under the headings of employer of last resort (ELR) and job guarantee have been made under which jobs would be available to all at a basic wage. These schemes promise a combination of full employment and price stability. This paper examines whether they would be able to deliver on such a promise. The paper discusses the notion of ‘functional finance’ which forms an important element of ideas on ELR. The nature and role of money as envisaged in the tax driven money approach which is often associated with the ELR proposals is critically examined. It is argued that whilst the ELR budgetary costs may be relatively small, this would also be the case from any public sector employment program. The question is raised as to whether there would be jobs of a type which could fit in with the ELR proposals, and what the nature of these jobs might be. The paper considers the extent to which ELR would involve underemployment and unemployment by another name. The possible inflationary implications of the ELR are next considered. This has two aspects: first to consider whether inflation would result from unemployment falling below any form of supply-side inflation barrier (such as a NAIRU), and second to consider whether the use of a base wage would bring price stability as claimed. In the subsequent section, the idea that ELR employment would form a buffer stock is critically examined.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2003.11506635

Inflation Macroeconomics

Abstract

In any problem-solving task, it is crucial to construct the initial problem in a meaningful way, because it influences the discourse and the solutions that follow. We argue that labour underutilisation is the central problem facing Australia not only due to the lost GDP but also because it punishes individuals via income insecurity and other associated costs (such as ill-health, family breakdown). We construct this problem as a system failure due to ill-conceived and executed macroeconomic policy imposing on vulnerable individuals who are powerless to improve their outcomes. We define full employment in terms of providing sufficient spatially distributed jobs and hours of work to match the labour force preferences at current money wages. This is in sharp contrast to orthodoxy which depicts unemployment as individual failure, yet at the same time argues that the full employment unemployment rate needs to be high to control inflation. While the neo-liberal approach fails to deal with the systemic nature of the problem, progressives are divided on both the problem and its solution. For example, the Basic Income (BI) model advocates the introduction of a universal basic income payable to all citizens. Most BI proponents construct the income insecurity problem as a lack of income rather than a lack of jobs and so they cannot outline a viable path to full employment. By contrast, we propose a Job Guarantee (JG) as a direct response to unemployment. The JG thus addresses the principle cause of income insecurity by restoring the role of State as .an employer of last resort. The JG has been criticised by other progressive economists who prefer a Keynesian expansion mediated by incomes policy and controlled investment. In this paper we argue that if one constructs unemployment as systemic failure within a fiat currency economy (a flexible exchange rate) and desires to achieve sustainable full employment, as defined above, with price stability and environmental sustainability, then a JG is essential, but this does not preclude a complementary Keynesian expansion. An (indiscriminate) Keynesian expansion in isolation is unlikely to lead to the employment of the most disadvantaged members of society and does not incorporate an explicit counter-inflation mechanism.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ah...

Australia Macroeconomics

Abstract

This paper evaluates the strategies of providing unconditional basic income support and those of guaranteeing employment. It begins with a cursory examination of the key ideas behind job guarantee (JG) and income guarantee (IG) proposals. Since much discussion has centered on whether we can afford either program, and how much each may cost, we address the issue of financing head-on. A clear understanding of modern money and the functional operation of sovereign currencies reveals that there are no financial constraints to implementing either a JG or an IG. Therefore, questions of whether we can “afford” these policies can be addressed more adequately by distinguishing between financial expenditures and real costs, as both high unemployment and deficient household income bring about substantial economic, social and political real costs.

https://edi.bard.edu/research/notes/cfeps-wp-29-job-or-income-guarante...

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This paper suggests that a public service employment (PSE) or job guarantee (JG) program run on the principles of functional finance can be designed to promote environmental sustainability. Unregulated or poorly regulated capitalist economies are both macroeconomically unsatisfactory (here focusing on unemployment, but also including price stability) and environmentally unsustainable. Traditional approaches addressing either unemployment or environmental degradation are insufficient to achieve full employment or environmental sustainability, and often proposals to attain one of these goals appear inconsistent with the other. A PSE program based on functional finance can achieve full employment, and may also present opportunities to promote environmental sustainability. A functional finance approach to ecological tax reform presents an opportunity to promote both macroeconomic and environmental goals. The flexibility of a PSE system also can be utilized to promote sustainability in a number of ways. PSE workers may also perform an array of environmental services, including monitoring, clean up, recycling, education, and more.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01603477.2003.11051364

Environmental Sustainability Macroeconomics

Abstract

The authors assess the impact of Argentina’s main social policy response to the severe economic crisis of 2002. The program aimed to provide direct income support for families with dependents, for whom the head had become unemployed due to the crisis. Counterfactual comparisons are based on a matched subset of applicants not yet receiving the program. Panel data spanning the crisis are also used. The authors find that the program reduced aggregate unemployment, though it attracted as many people into the workforce from inactivity, as it did people who would have been otherwise unemployed. While there was substantial leakage to formally ineligible families, and incomplete coverage of those eligible, the program did partially compensate many losers from the crisis, and reduced extreme poverty.

https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhh044

Implementation Macroeconomics Quantitative South America

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of how the adequacy of a person’s employment status influences their health. We draw on and extend the Labor Utilization Framework to distinguish between different forms of underemployment (hours, income, skills, and status) and test their relative effects on a range of physical health and psychological well-being outcomes. Using data drawn from a nationally representative sample (N=1,429) of adults of working age, we assess the concurrent effects of underemployment through a longitudinal design that controls for prior levels of health and well-being. The results indicate that underemployed workers do report lower levels of health and well-being than adequately employed workers. However, the relationship varies by both types of underemployment and indicator of health and well-being. We conclude by discussing future research to explore the relationship between underemployment and health and well-being.

https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1025638705649

Health Macroeconomics Quantitative

Abstract

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote extensively on economic matters, especially unemployment policy. King supported a federal job guarantee for anyone ready and willing to work. He believed it would provide employment and income security, as well as increased public and community services. Dr. King’s writings on employment are reviewed and discussed. His policy proposals are just as relevant today as they were when they were first put forward some forty years ago.

https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02779059

North America Racial Justice

Abstract

Today’s currencies exist within the context of State powers. These powers endow the State with the ability to move desired resources from the private to public sector using economic policies targeting full employment and price stability. This paper explores the basis for understanding modern monetary systems as rooted in the monopoly powers of the State. In the first section, the case of colonial Africa will be used to demonstrate how State powers are used to give value to the currency. The second section further explores historical issues in the development of these powers and their institutional basis. The present-day monetary system and the role played by the government are then examined. In particular, the way in which certain powers of the State turn bank money into State money is explored in this section. This third part is intended to alleviate any doubts with regard to the government’s monopoly powers in the presence of bank credit creation. In the fourth part, a mathematical framework is employed to demonstrate the exogenous pricing power of the State. Finally, a conclusion is offered in which the employer of last resort approach is identified as an appropriate policy framework for full employment and price stability.

https://www.jobguarantee.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tcherneva_Mono...

Inflation Macroeconomics Modeling

Abstract

This paper analyzes the notion of a jobs guarantee (JG) that is bestowed on each individual as a right of citizenry. Central to a JG economy is the notion that full employment with inflation control is both possible and desirable. Unlike a liberal economy, which has used the deficiency of demand over the last two decades to manage price stability, a JG economy controls inflation by manipulating the ratio of employees that are in the private labor sector vis-a-vis the elastic public labor market. The JG labor sector, unlike the private labor market, is underwritten by the state acting as an employer of last resort. The paper makes a case illustrating that although a JG economy is superior to a liberal economy, political impediments would render the scheme inoperative, owing to organized labor’s resistance to how a JG economy (1) controls inflation and (2) stabilizes balance of payments disequilibrium. The paper concludes with an alternative examination illustrating that full employment with inflation control is possible, though only if certain post-liberal institutions are established. Post-liberal institutions are a prerequisite, in other words, if full employment and price stability are to be achieved.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4538828

Macroeconomics

Abstract

In the year 2000 Policy Address, the Hong Kong SAR Government proposed to implement a number of policy measures and infrastructure projects to help create short-term and long-term job opportunities. The measures included a stepped-up anti-smoking campaign, increased employment for urban cleansing and greening, additional staff for environmental improvement and community building at the district level, increased staff in personal care and outreach services, and additional service providers for women, new arrivals, single-parent families, the elderly and the disabled. Together, it was anticipated that these measures would create about 15,000 new jobs, in addition to new jobs to be created by government infrastructure projects.

https://edi.bard.edu/research/notes/cfeps-pn-0103-a-full-employment-pr...

Asia Macroeconomics Urban