The Unassuming Economist

I was unemployed for a year. It was the most difficult time of my life. I was down to my girlfriend’s last dollar. Then, figuring that she was already in graduate school and had no need for them, I started selling off her undergraduate textbooks. Luckily, she had been a double major, so that kept me going for a while. Thirty years later, I can joke about it. But I know that unemployment is no joking matter, and particularly not for the 210 million people across the globe who are unemployed this Labor Day.

Here’s a paper I’ve written on the human cost of unemployment (lost earnings; lower life expectancy; lower earnings and academic achievement for children of the unemployed) and what can be done to get people back to work.

My institution is working with the International Labour Organization to draw attention to the unemployment crisis and to promote discussion of how to cure it. Give us your suggestions at: http://www.osloconference2010.org/