Author(s)

Michael Shannon^*, Bakhtiar Moazzami

Department of Economics, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada.

Bai and Perron’s method for detecting multiple, unknown structural breaks was used to estimate natural rates of unemployment for 19 OECD countries from 1955-2011. Natural rates were lowest in the early period, then, rose in the mid-1970s and early-1980s in most countries. Several countries saw declines in the late-1990s or early-2000s.

Natural Rate, NAIRU, Unemployment, Structural Break

Shannon, M. and Moazzami, B. (2014) Bai-Perron Estimates of OECD Natural Rates of Unemployment 1955-2011. iBusiness, 6, 143-149. doi: 10.4236/ib.2014.63015.