Estimating the liaison between Unemployment and GDP beyond the Mean of the Distribution

Authors

  • Muhammad Aamir Khan Department of Economics/Agri.Economis PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi
  • Mamoona Rasheed Department of Statistics and Mathematics, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi
  • Muhammad Hanif Department of Statistics and Mathematics, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi

Abstract

Okun law postulates a negative relationship between the movements of unemployment rate and the real gross domestic product. This study applied Quantile regression analysis to estimate the relationship between unemployment and its predictor GDP, and compared the results to parameter estimates using OLS regression. Conditional mean has been used as a solution to minimize the error variance. Time series annual data has been used from period 1973 to 2010. Predictor of unemployment used was GDP. Empirical Results of quantile regression analysis showed that for GDP parameter estimates were significant only for certain quantiles. Parameters for GDP were significant only for 5%, 10%, 95%. The GDP parameter had non- significant on OLS but not on all quantile from quantile regression.

References

Barro, R., Xavier, S. M (1995). Economic growth, MIT Press Cambridge, London

Cahill, M. B., (2006). “Estimating key macroeconomic relationships at the undergraduate level: Taylor rule and Okun’s Law examplesâ€, Meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations Boston, MA

Dornbusch, R., Fischer, S. (2007). Macroeconomics 9th Edition

Hao, L., Naiman, D.Q. (2007). Quantile Regression, Sage Publications, Thousands Oaks

Knotek, E. S., II. (2007). How useful is Okun's law? Economic Review. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Fourth Quarter, p. 73-103

Koenker, R. (2005). “Quantile Regression Software†available at ^http://www. econ.uiuc.edu/;roger/research/rq/rq.html&.

Koenker, R., Bassett, G. (1978). “Regression Quantiles.†Econometrica. January, 46:1, p. 33–50

Lang, D., Peretti, C. (2009). “A strong hysteretic model of Okun’s Law: theory and a preliminary investigationâ€, International Review of Applied Economics Vol. 23, No. 4, p. 445-462

Lee, J. (2000). The Robustness of Okun’s Law: Evidence from OECD countries. Journal of Macroeconomics, 22, p. 331-56

Malley, J., Molana, H. (2008). “Output, unemployment and Okun's law: Some evidence from the G7â€, Elsevier, Economics Letters 101, p. 113-115

Mankiw, G. (2004). Macroeconomics, Worth Publishers, New York

Okun, A.M. (1962). Potential GNP: Its Measurement and Significance, Proceedings of the Business and Economic Statistics, p. 98-103

Okun, A. (1983). Economics for Policy making, MIT Press Cambridge, London

Pierdzioch, C., Rulke, J. K., Stadtmann, G. (2009). “Do professional economists’ forecasts reflect Okun’s law? Some evidence for the G7 countriesâ€, Applied Economics, p. 1-9

Soègner, L., Stiassny, A. (2002). “An analysis on the structural stability of Okun’s law-a cross-country studyâ€, Applied Economics, 14, p. 1775-1787

Thirlwall, A.P. (1969). Okun’s Law and the natural rate of growth, Southern Economics Journal, 36(1), p. 87-89

Villaverde, J., Maza, A. (2008). “The robustness of Okun’s law in Spain, 1980-2004 Regional evidenceâ€, Journal of Policy Modeling 31, p. 289-297

Zaleha, M. N., Nor, M., Ghani, N., Ghani, A. (2007). The relationship between output and unemployment in Malaysia: Does Okun's Law exist? International Journal of Economics and Management, 1(3), p. 337-344.

Downloads

Published

2014-07-18