Okun’s Law: Fit at 55?

In a revised version of our 2013 paper, Larry Ball, Daniel Leigh and I still conclude: “It is rare to call a macroeconomic relationship a “law.” Yet we believe that Okun’s Law has earned its name. It is not as universal as the law of gravity (which has the same parameters in all advanced economies), but it is strong and stable by the standards of macroeconomics. Reports of deviations from the Law are often exaggerated. Okun’s Law is certainly more reliable than a typical macro relationship like the Phillips curve, which is constantly under repair as new anomalies arise in the data.” The paper provides estimates of Okun’s Law for 20 advanced economies, including the United States.

Posted by at 4:13 PM

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