Article
Fact-based, data-driven research and analysis to advance democratic debate on vital issues shaping people’s lives.
Center for Economic and Policy Research
1611 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: 202-293-5380
Fax: 202-588-1356
https://cepr.net
James Heckman
Capitalism and Society, 2007
James Heckman, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2000, agreed that the evidence tying high unemployment rates in some European countries with a generous welfare state is weak. This was the main thrust of his comment on an article in Capitalism and Society written by David Howell (New School), Andrew Glyn (Oxford University) and CEPR economists Dean Baker and John Schmitt.
The article, along with prior research by the same team, questioned the conclusions of other studies that purported to show that high unemployment rates in some European countries were caused by a welfare state that was too generous and labor unions that were too strong. Until recently, this view had been widely accepted among economists and in policy circles, although there has been a shift in recent years partly because of this team’s research.