The Beveridge Curve in the OECD Before and After the Great Recession

This paper analyses the Beveridge Curve across nine OECD countries from 1985 to 2012. \r\nBesides allowing for some customary labour-market institutions, we assess the role of various \r\nkinds of structural factors (technological progress, globalisation, oil prices) and of the current \r\nrecession on the Curve. Significant institutional variables include unemployment benefits, the \r\ntax wedge, active labour-market policies and employment protection legislation (the latter \r\nimproving the unemployment-vacancies trade-off). Technological progress (R&D intensity) shifts \r\nthe Curve outwards, producing evidence in support of a creative destruction effect. Globalisation and unfavourable oil price shocks also shift the Curve outwards. Structural relationships seem to be stable throughout the 2008-2012 period, suggesting that the Great Recession mainly implied moves along the Curve.