The Brookings Panel’s Contributions to Research on Labor Markets

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, I review the extensive body of research that has appeared in the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA) on the labor market. Much of the research deals with unemployment, a topic of great interest in macroeconomic analysis and policy. I trace the evolution of modern economic analysis of unemployment and the major contributions relating to unemployment in the pages of the Brookings Papers. I also review a number of important contributions to other aspects of labor economics that are part of the BPEA legacy.