Abstract
Edmund Phelps is a Nobel Prize winner in economics who has contributed to our understanding of the supply side of the macroeconomy. He showed that there is no stable trade-off between inflation and unemployment. He derived the socially optimal level of saving and the socially optimal level of research into new technologies and showed how technological progress depended on the size of the population and its level of education. In recent years, Phelps has developed models of the equilibrium unemployment rate, what he calls structural unemployment, that can explain the long swings of unemployment as well as differences across countries.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, 2008. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Bibliography
Aghion, P., R. Frydman, J.E. Stiglitz, and M. Woodford. 2003. Knowledge, information and expectations in modern macroeconomics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Arrow, K.J. 1972. Models of job discrimination. In Racial discrimination in economic life, ed. A.H. Pascal. Lexington: D.C. Heath.
Arrow, K.J. 1973. The theory of discrimination. In Discrimination in labor markets, ed. O. Ashenfelter and A. Rees. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Calvo, G.A. 1983. Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework. Journal of Monetary Economics 12: 383–398.
Fischer, S. 1977. Long-term contracts, rational expectations, and the optimal money supply rule. Journal of Political Economy 85: 191–205.
Friedman, M. 1968. The role of monetary policy. American Economic Review 58: 1–17.
Layard, R., S. Nickell, and R. Jackman. 1991. Unemployment: Macroeconomic performance and the labour market. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lindbeck, A., and D. Snower. 1988. The insider–outsider theory of employment and unemployment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lucas, R.E. 1972. Expectations and the neutrality of money. Journal of Economic Theory 4: 103–124.
Ramsey, F. 1928. A mathematical theory of saving. Economic Journal 38: 543–559.
Taylor, J.B. 1980. Aggregate dynamics and staggered contracts. Journal of Political Economy 88: 1–23.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2008 The Author(s)
About this entry
Cite this entry
Zoega, G. (2008). Phelps, Edmund (Born 1933). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2035-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2035-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95121-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences