Involuntary unemployment: critical analysis
| Author: | Bc. Tomáš Troch |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2012 - summer |
| Leaders: | doc. Ing. Vladislav Flek CSc. |
| Consultants: | |
| Work type: | Bachelors |
| Language: | Czech |
| Pages: | 57 |
| Awards and prizes: | |
| Link: | |
| Abstract: | Most of the existing empirical literature on the nature of unemployment agrees that unemployment is an involuntary phenomenon. In my bachelor theses I challenge that assertion and recommend taking a more agnostic position regarding the subject. I examine the empirical approach to the problem by formulating the complete form of logical inference about involuntary unemployment. The inference has three premises. The first one is philosophical and has a form of an ethical rule, the second one is psychological and deals with the theory of happiness and the last one is econometrical and uses the estimation of the relationship between unemployment and happiness. I systematically examine them, show their weak points and argue that each of them is problematic and in the current situation we should refrain from accepting them, which implies that the conclusion regarding the nature of unemployment remains open. I also suggest how we can improve some of the premises to make them more realistic. In the last part of my theses I review the existing empirical literature and summarize their conclusions regarding the relationship between happiness and unemployment. |
