rates surged, while in others they remained modest ( Figure 1.2 ). Eleven countries had an “unemployment surge” defined as an increase in unemployment of at least five percentage points. 4 The Baltic countries, Croatia, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Cyprus all stand out as countries that experienced very sharp unemployment increases; while in northern European countries unemployment increases were more modest. In Germany, unemployment did not increase at all. Figure 1.2. Unemployment Rate (Percent) The paper shows that these unemployment surges
In the 1990s, Argentina was held up as a model of successful economic stabilization and market reform. But in December 2001, the country plunged into a devastating crisis when it defaulted on its sovereign debt. Soon afterward, it abandoned the convertibility regime under which the peso had been pegged to the U.S. dollar since 1991. Output collapsed, unemployment surged, and political and social turmoil ensued. These events raised questions about the IMF’s role. On July 29, the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) released its report on the handling of the crisis. Shinji Takagi, IEO Advisor and team leader for the report, spoke with Christine Ebrahim-zadeh of the IMF Survey about the report’s findings.
Front Matter Page European and Western Hemisphere Departments Contents 1 Introduction 2 Risk Premia and Output: a Stylized Model 3 The Role of Risk Premium Shocks in the post-2008 Unemployment Surges 3.1 All Countries with Risk Premium Shocks had Unemployment Surges; and all Countries with Unemployment Surges had Risk Shocks 3.2 Risk Premium Shocks Help Explain why Countries with Similar GDP Declines had Very Different Unemployment Rate Movements 4 The Baltics 2008/2009 Crisis 4.1 The Crisis 4.2 What was Behind the Risk Premium Shocks