The Analytical Value of Employment-Equilibrium Models

Abstract

Among the general types of employment-behavior models which can be conceived and which might prove useful for one purpose or another are those displaying: (a) initial full-employment equilibrium, (b) initial underemployment equilibrium, (c) initial disequilibrium leading to terminal full-employment equilibrium, (d) initial disequilibrium leading to terminal underemployment equilibrium, (e) continuous disequilibrium. In turn, each of these types may reveal different patterns of employment behavior. Thus (c) and (d) may show either a slow or a rapid and either a direct or a fluctuating movement towards terminal equilibrium. Likewise, plateaus of temporary equilibrium may be inserted through appropriate assumptions; and, in the case of the terminal underemployment equilibrium, the terminal position may be represented as a central axis or as an upper or lower limit of the earlier fluctuations.