Policy Innovations The central address for a fairer globalization

A publication of the Carnegie Council

Is Full Employment Possible under Globalization?

By Robert Pollin

Political Economy Research Institute, July 2007

"The key to sustained full employment, even in the face of globalization, is to achieve comparable levels of demand injections into the domestic economy through controlled public policy as opposed uncontrolled excesses of the financial markets. The most effective and egalitarian way to do this is through public investments targeted carefully at location-specific high employment investments."

ABSTRACT: To honor the life work of Professor Sumner Rosen, this lecture examines approaches to promoting full employment at decent jobs within our contemporary era of globalization. The lecture briefly summarizes the theories of unemployment of Marx, Friedman, Keynes and Kalecki. It then addresses the meaning of full employment within the alternative theories and under different historical and country settings. It next considers the issue of the inflation/unemployment trade-off, and the Meidner-Rehn Swedish approach to inflation control under full employment. It concludes by presenting a sketch of something approximating a full employment program for the contemporary U.S. economy, focusing on ending the Iraq war and reallocation public spending toward health care, education, and green growth.

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