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Investigación económica
versión impresa ISSN 0185-1667
Inv. Econ vol.63 no.247 Ciudad de México ene./mar. 2004
Artículos
What Type Of Full Employment? A Critical Evaluation of “Government as the Employer of Last Resort” Policy Proposal
¿Qué tipo de pleno empleo? Una evaluación critica a la propuesta de política “el gobierno como empleador de última instancia”
*Full Professor, Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (K1N 6N5); <mseccare@uottawa.ca>.
The article offers an evaluation of the policy proposal originating in some Post-Keynesian circles over the last half-dozen years in support of full employment based on the Minskian view of “government as employer of last resort” (ELR). This ELR proposal is evaluated on its on own merit as well as in relation to alternative Keynesian and neoclassical proposals put forth historically. Such is done first by reviewing Keynes's original perspective on how to achieve full employment and then by showing how, in rejecting Keynesian full employment, neoclassical economists have replaced it with a competing proposal in support of guaranteed income. This is then followed by a detailed analysis of the ELR policy proposal using a Kaleckian framework that shows how an ELR policy is compatible with both a “high wage” full employment and a “low wage” full employment. However, it is pointed out that the choice of the ELR wage would not only have an impact on labour-force participation at ELR full employment but it would also have implications on wage inflation depending on whether or not the ELR wage would disturb the existing wage structure. While supporting the ELR alternative as a clear improvement over the existing policy system in which governments maintain a permanently high level of unemployment in order to keep downward pressure on wage inflation, the author does raise some critical concerns regarding the nature of the so-called “loose labour market” ELR full employment that would ensue from its implementation.
El artículo ofrece una evaluación a la política propuesta en algunos círculos poskeynesianos en los últimos años sobre un pleno empleo basado en la perspectiva de Hyman Minsky de “el gobierno como empleador de última instancia” (EUI). Esta propuesta es evaluada en sus propios méritos así como en relación con las propuestas alternativas keynesiana y neoclásica históricamente conocidas. Primero se hace una revisión de la perspectiva original de Keynes sobre cómo lograr el pleno empleo para luego mostrar qué, en su rechazo al pleno empleo keynesiano, los economistas neoclásicos han remplazado esa perspectiva con una propuesta capaz de sostener un ingreso garantizado. Esto es seguido por un análisis detallado de la política EUI propuesta, usando un enfoque kaleckiano que muestra cómo, en pleno empleo, una política EUI es compatible tanto con un “salario alto” como con un “salario bajo”. Sin embargo, esta opción de “empleador de última instancia” podría tener no sólo un impacto en la participación de la fuerza laboral en condiciones de pleno empleo sino que también podría tener implicaciones en la inflación salarial; lo que dependería de qué tanto el salario de la política EUI perturbe la existencia de la estructura salarial vigente. Mientras la alternativa del EUI constituye una clara mejora respecto del sistema de política existente en donde los gobiernos mantienen permanentemente un alto nivel de desempleo para mantener bajo control la inflación salarial, el autor plantea algunas inquietudes en cuanto a la naturaleza del llamado “mercado laboral flexible” bajo el sistema de EUI en condiciones de pleno empleo que resultarían como consecuencia de la implementación de esta política.
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Received: April 2003; Accepted: July 2003
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