Olivier Blanchard

Olivier J. Blanchard, chairman of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will spend the spring semester at Russell Sage beginning a book on European unemployment. His book will consider micro- and macro- trends, as well as the wide differences in unemployment figures among European countries. Blanchard will explore the hypothesis that unemployment is governed by the combination of adverse economic shocks (such as a slowdown in productivity growth or an increase in oil prices), workers' understanding of the situation, and the amount of bargaining power they possess.