Tcherneva, Pavlina

Pavlina Tcherneva

Abstract

Eliminating Youth Unemployment: A Proposal

I look at the evolution of unemployment in the postwar era with a special focus on the Great Recession. I offer a macroeconomic examination of the causes and distributional effects of this ongoing problem and analyze several conventional solutions. The dynamics of youth unemployment will be examined in this context. I develop a proposal for eliminating youth unemployment that is inspired by the Employer of Last Resort (ELR) and job guarantee programs found in the academic literature, as well as through various direct job creation programs that have been put into practice around the world. The current proposal has two objectives: (1) to provide young people with a much needed job safety net that serves as a springboard to future opportunities, and (2) to mobilize, harness, and develop their creative energies in an effort to advance the public purpose. The proposal considers the social entrepreneurial sector as a possible institutional vehicle for delivering such a program.

Part of ¡No Mas! Strategies and Alternatives 

Biography

Pavlina Tcherneva (Bard College)

Pavlina Tcherneva is assistant professor of economics at Bard College. She previously taught at Franklin and Marshall College and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Tcherneva conducts research in the areas of public policy and monetary theory, and she has collaborated with policymakers from Argentina, Bulgaria, China, Turkey, and the United States on developing and evaluating various job creation programs. Her articles have appeared in the Review of Social Economy, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, International Journal of Political Economy, Rutgers Journal of Law and Urban Policy, among others. She is the co-editor of Full Employment and Price Stability: The Macroeconomic Vision of William S. Vickrey (Edward Elgar, 2004). Tcherneva holds a BA in mathematics and economics from Gettysburg College and an MA and PhD in economics from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.