Whatever Happened to Goldilocks? The Role of Expectations in Estimates of the NAIRU in the US and the UK*

B-Tier
Journal: Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics
Year: 2006
Volume: 68
Issue: 1
Pages: 45-79

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

During the second half of the 1990s the US economy was characterized as the Goldilocks economy: not too hot, nor too cold, but just right. It was argued that this represented a new paradigm, enabling unemployment to remain low without igniting inflationary pressure. We examine the evidence for a change in the relationship between inflation and unemployment for the US and UK using Phillips curve models. The impact of including explicit inflation expectations is also considered. Inflation expectations are found to play an important role, particularly in the US. When expectations are included there is still evidence that the non‐accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) steadily declined during the late 1990s, although this decline in the US NAIRU is not found solely in the 1990s.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:obuest:v:68:y:2006:i:1:p:45-79
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25