Okun’s law: a meaningful guide for monetary policy?
Okun’s law can be a useful guide for monetary policy, but only if the natural rate of unemployment is properly measured.>
Are Immigrants Stealing American Jobs?: A Study of Unauthorized Immigration and Unemployment in the Southwest United States
Unauthorized Immigration and Unemployment in the Southwest United States This research analyzes the effects of unauthorized immigration on unemployment levels in the states of Texas and California in the United States. Data from the Department of Homeland Security is utilized to best estimate the size of unauthorized populations. This research finds that a one person increase in the unauthorized population in the region leads to a 1.1556 person decrease in the region's unemployed population. This estimate implies that increases in unauthorized immigration has a net negative effect on unemployment levels, meaning that unauthorized immigration encourages higher levels of employment in these regions for foreign and native workers alike.
Bentham's Equality-Sensitive Utilitarianism
Rosen argues that Bentham's utilitarian doctrine was sensitive to distributive concerns and would not countenance sacrifice of fundamental individual interests for aggregate gains in happiness in society. This essay seeks to extend and deepen Rosen's argument. It is argued that Bentham's equality-sensitive principle of utility is an expression of an individualist conception of human happiness which contrasts sharply with the orthodox utilitarian abstract conception. Evidence for this interpretation of the basic motivation of Bentham's doctrine is drawn from his view of the relationship between happiness and expectations, from various expressions of his ‘each to count for one’ formula, and from his reformulations of the principle of utility itself late in his career.