a. If the unemployment rate is 6% before a rise in government purchases, and if a rise in government purchases induces the typical unemployed person to search 10% longer in the hopes of finding a high-paying government job, what will the unemployment rate be after the rise in government purchases? Only consider the impact of this waiting-for-a-good-job effect. b. If the government wanted to get the good aggregate-demand stimulating effects of fiscal policy, but wanted to eliminate this extra waiting-for-a-good-job unemployment, how could it change current law to do so?

Principles of Economics 2e
2nd Edition
ISBN:9781947172364
Author:Steven A. Greenlaw; David Shapiro
Publisher:Steven A. Greenlaw; David Shapiro
Chapter22: Inflation
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 25CTQ: Imagine that the government statisticians who calculate the inflation rate have been updating the...
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People will search a long time to find a good job. So it might only take
you two weeks to find a minimum wage job, but it might take you
six months to find a job paying five times the minimum wage. Let’s
investigate how this simple fact might cause expansionary fiscal policy
to increase the unemployment rate, at least temporarily.
In the United States, federal contracts to build roads, bridges, or
buildings must pay higher-than-average wages. The law requiring this
is known as the Davis-Bacon Act, or the “prevailing wage law.”
a. If the unemployment rate is 6% before a rise in government purchases, and if a rise in government purchases induces the typical
unemployed person to search 10% longer in the hopes of finding a
high-paying government job, what will the unemployment rate be
after the rise in government purchases? Only consider the impact
of this waiting-for-a-good-job effect.
b. If the government wanted to get the good aggregate-demand stimulating effects of fiscal policy, but wanted to eliminate this
extra waiting-for-a-good-job unemployment, how could it change
current law to do so?

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