Follow up to: An Economics Research Proposal and Blog Project

Earlier, I wrote of my plans to blog on economics while doing economics summer research. Throughout my research however, the project took a turn toward topics that weren’t as bloggable as I had hoped, but the paper was finished. In the end, it resulted in this paper defending the Employer of Last Resort / Job Guarantee as a solution to unemployment.

Here’s the abstract:

The United States government is dedicated to ensure truly full employment and price stability. However, current policies to increase employment via pump-priming have been unsuccessful, and further analysis shows that free market capitalism will not achieve full employment on its own. In this paper, I explore the cost of unemployment and argue for solution through an Employer of Last Resort program (ELR), which seeks to have the government directly employ all people ready, willing, and able to work. I also look at case studies of ELR programs implemented throughout history.

I’ve made this complete paper available via PDF and available through Issuu. Let me know if you want it made available through any other methods. I do have plans, within a few months, to eventually blog through this paper and work on making it more accessible, because I think it’s kind of neat.