Institutions, Inflation and Unemployment

In Institutions, Inflation and Unemployment, Edward J. Amadeo investigates the relationship between inflation and distributive conflict among social groups in an environment of pervasive uncertainty. Professor Amadeo considers theoretical, institutional and empirical aspects of a problem, chronic and very high inflation, which has been at the heart of the economic crisis in Brazil during the last 15 years. After analysing economic models of wage and price determination in regimes of high inflation, the author examines institutional approaches to the organization of unions and the structure of wage bargains - with emphasis on the centralization of bargains - and concludes with a discussion and empirical assessment of the relation between wage bargaining and inflation in Brazil. Combining a sophisticated theoretical analysis with a rigorous study of Brazil's recent period of rampant inflation, Professor Amadeo offers both theoretical and applied economists a series of informed and significant insights into the phenomenon of inflation.