Skip Navigation


Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access originally published online on March 22, 2006
Cambridge Journal of Economics 2006 30(3):473-477; doi:10.1093/cje/bel007
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
30/3/473    most recent
bel007v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hayes, M. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Related Collections
Right arrow B22 - Macroeconomics
Right arrow E12 - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian
Right arrow E13 - Neoclassical
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

Notes and Comments

Comment: Lucas on involuntary unemployment

M. G. Hayes*

* Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

Address for correspondence: 23 Coquet Terrace, Heaton, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE6 5LD, UK; email: mark.hayes{at}northumbria.ac.uk

Abstract

Keynes distinguishes three concepts: voluntary, frictional and (Keynesian) involuntary unemployment. Frictional unemployment is a Classical form of involuntary unemployment (not voluntary, as Lucas suggests), and reflects the Marshallian, rather than Walrasian, treatment of time and equilibrium. Lucas contradicts both Keynes and Pigou in asserting that there are always immediate vacancies for unskilled labour, and abstracts from the very problem that Keynes seeks to address. If voluntary unemployment is re-defined appropriately, as De Vroey helpfully suggests elsewhere, the prefix ‘involuntary’ is dispensable, not because all unemployment is voluntary, as Lucas would have it, but because it is all involuntary.

Key Words: Keynes • Lucas • Involuntary unemployment

JEL classifications: B22, E12, E13

Manuscript received November 8, 2004; final version received August 8, 2005.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.