Empirica – Journal of European Economics

Sponsored by the Austrian Economic Association and the Austrian Institute of Economic Research

Empirica publishes empirical and theoretical work on all economic aspects of European Integration. The topics may range from all challenges concerning the deepening of the European Union (Single Market, Lisbon Agenda, EMU) to enlargement and the external relations of the EU (globalisation).

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Luca Zanin
The pyramid of Okun's coefficient for Italy
Empirica, 2018, 45(1), S.17-28, http://www.springer.com/10663
Our aim is to propose a pyramid of Okun's coefficient by age and gender in the Italian labour force using a varying-coefficient model. The unemployment rate by age and gender – useful information for estimating Okun's relationship – is not available for Italy from official statistics. Therefore, we provide an estimation of the indicator using microdata for the 2005-2014 period from ISTAT, the Italian labour force survey. Okun's law is investigated using two measures of the unemployment rate: a traditional measure based on a labour force with and without work experience, and a new measure restricted to the labour force with experience. When Okun's relationship is estimated using the unemployment rate restricted to the labour force with experience, the young population is less sensitive to business cycles. As the workforce ages, this gap in sensitivity tends to shrink. We also found that there are no significant differences by gender in the magnitude of Okun's coefficient among the youngest population when considering the unemployment rate restricted to the labour force with experience.
JEL-Codes:C14 C25 E24 O40
Keywords:Binary generalised extreme value additive model, Economic growth, Okun's coefficient, Unemployment rate, Varying-coefficient model
Forschungsbereich:Arbeitsmarktökonomie, Einkommen und soziale Sicherheit
Sprache:Englisch

Managing Editor

Univ.-Prof. MMag. Dr. Harald Oberhofer

Funktion: Ökonom (Senior Economist), Editor-in-Chief Empirica
Forschungsgruppe: Industrie-, Innovations- und internationale Ökonomie