Professor Gylfi Zoega
Phone: +354 552 5239
Email: [email protected]
Date of birth 14 February 1963, married with three children. Citizenship: Iceland
Research topics
Values and labor market outcomes.
Equilibrium unemployment.
Entrepreneurship.
Natural resources and economic growth.
Financial turbulence.
Human capital.
Education
University of Iceland, 1983-1987: Cand Oecon 1987
Columbia University, 1987-1993: MA 1989, MPhil 1991, PhD 1993.
Short biography
1983-1987
University of Iceland, Cand. Oecon 1987.
1987-1993
Columbia University, MA. 1989, MPhil 1991, PhD 1993.
1989-1992
Teaching assistant, Columbia University
1991-1992
Internship in the research department of the World Bank.
1992-1993
Economist, OFCE, Paris.
1993-1997
Lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London.
1998-2001
Senior lecturer, Birkbeck College, University of London.
2001-2004
Reader, Birkbeck College, University of London.
Since 2003
Professor, University of Iceland.
Since 2006
Professor (part time), Birkbeck College, University of London .
Since 2009,
External member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Iceland.
Awards
University of Iceland award for excellence in teaching 2007.
Award from the Ása Guðmundsdóttir Wright award fund 2013.
Teaching experience
Macroeconomics (graduate and undergraduate)
Labor economics (graduate and undergraduate)
International economics (undergraduate)
Microeconomics (graduate)
Public policy (graduate)
Mathematical economics (undergraduate)
Economic growth (graduate)
Selected Publications
“Social Capital and the Labor Market,” with Agust Arnorsson. Forthcoming in Capitalism and Society.
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“A Non-Perpetual Shirking Model,” with Yu-Fu Chen, Economics Letters, (2015), 134, 98-101.
“Sleep and the Management of Alertness,” with Tinna L. Asgeirsdottir and Sigurdur P. Olafsson,
Mind&Society, (2015), 1-21.
“Values and Labor Force Participation in the Nordic Countries,” Economics: The Open-Access, OpenAssessment E-Journal, (2014), 1-43.
“Age Structure and the Current Account,” with Gudmundur S. Gudmundsson, Economics Letters, 123 (2), (2014),
183-186.
“Determinants of Wage Stickiness in a Developing Economy,” with Waqas Ahmed, M. Ali Choudhary,
Sajawal Khan and Saima Mahmood, Economic Modelling, 38, (2014), 296-304.
“Corporatism and Job Satisfaction.” With Edmund S. Phelps, Journal of Comparative Economics, 41 (1),
(2013), 35–47.
“Sticky Prices in Customer Markets,“ with Ali Choudhary and Thorlakur Karlsson,
Economic Record, 88 (282), (2012), 372–390.
“Advertising as a Predictor of Investment,” with Kari Fridriksson, Economics Letters, 116 (1), (2012), 60–66.
„Lessons from a Collapse of a Financial System,“ with Sigridur Benediktsdottir and Jon Danielsson, Economic
Policy, 26 (66) (2011), 183-235.
“On the Economics of Sleeping,” with Tinna Asgeirsdottir, Mind & Society, 10 (2) (2011), 149-164.
“Financial Crises and Unemployment,” Capitalism and Society: A Journal of The Center on Capitalism
and Society (2010).
“An essay on the generational effect of employment protection,” with Yu-Fu Chen, Mathematical Social Sciences
(2010), 59 (3), 349–359.
“Keynes, Investment, Unemployment and Expectations,” with Ron Smith, International Review of Applied
Economics, 23 (4) (2009), 427-444.
“Global Factors, Unemployment Adjustment and the Natural Rate,” with Ron Smith, Economics: The
Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, 2 (22) (2008), 1-28.
“Global unemployment shocks,” with Ron Smith, Economics Letters, 94 (3) (2007), 433-438.
“A golden rule of depreciation,” Economics Letters, with Thorvaldur Gylfason, 96 (3) (2007), 357-362.
“Does Wage Compression Explain Rigid Money Wages,” with Thorlakur Karlsson. Economics Letters, 93 (1)
(2006), 111-115.
“Natural Resources and Economic Growth: A View of the Landscape,” with Thorvaldur Gylfason. The World
Economy, 29 (8) (2006), 279-297.
“On the Fringe of Europe: Iceland’s Currency Dilemma,” CESifo Forum, 2 (2006), 41-51.
“Is Wage Compression Necessary for General Training?” with Alison Booth. Oxford Economic Papers, 56
(1) (2004), 88-97.
“The Search for Routes to Better Economic Performance in Continental Europe,” with Edmund Phelps.
CESifo Forum 5 (1) (2004), 3-11.
“Unions, Training and Wages: Evidence for British Men,” with Alison Booth and Marco Francesconi. The Industrial
and Labor Relations Review, vol. 57 (1) (2003), 68-91.
“On the Welfare Implications of Firing Costs,” with Alison Booth. European Journal of Political Economy, 19 (4)
(2003), 769-775.
“Labour Market Institutions and Macroeconomic Shocks,” with Yu-Fu Chen and Dennis Snower. Labour:
Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, 17 ( 2) (2003), 247-270.
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“US Regional Business Cycles and the Natural Rate of Unemployment,” with Howard Wall. The Federal Reserve
Bank of St Louis Review, 86 (1) (2003), 23-33.
“Education, Social Equality and Economic Growth: A View of the Landscape” with Thorvaldur Gylfason.
CESifo Economic Studies, 49 (4) (2003), 557-579.
“Hiring and Firing: A Tale of Two Thresholds,” with Alison Booth and Yu-Fu Chen. Journal of Labor Economics,
20 (2) (2002), 217-248.
“Ownership and Growth,” with Thorvaldur Gylfason and Tryggvi Herbertsson. The World Bank Economic Review,
15 (3) (2002), 431-449.
“The British Beveridge Curve: A Tale of Ten Regions,” with Howard J. Wall. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and
Statistics, 64 (3) (2002), 261-280.
“The Modigliani “Puzzle,” with Tryggvi Herbertsson. Economics Letters, 76 (3) (2002), 437-442.
“Stocks and Jobs: the Valuation of Firms and Business Assets as a Factor in Structural Slumps and Booms,” with
Edmund S. Phelps. Economic Policy, 32 (2001), 85-114.
“Testing the Persistence and Structuralist Theories of Unemployment” with Jerry Coakley and Ana-Maria Fuertes.
Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics and Econometrics, 5 (3) (2001), 179-202.
“Iceland’s Natural Experiment in Supply-side Economics,” with Marco Bianchi and Bjorn Gudmundsson. The
American Economic Review, 91 (5) (2001), 1564-1579.
“Education and the Natural Rate of Unemployment,” with J. Michael Orszag and Edmund S. Phelps. Oxford
Economic Papers, 52 (2000), 204-223.
“Trade Surpluses and Life-cycle Saving Behaviour,” with Tryggvi Herbertsson. Economics Letters, 65 (2000), 227237.
“Roots of the Nascent Recoveries: Market Forces, Sound Finance, Labor Reforms and Enterprise Policy,” with JeanPaul Fitoussi, David Jestaz and Edmund S. Phelps. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2000 (1), (2000) 237311.
“A Mixed Blessing: Natural Resources in an Endogenous Growth Model,” with Thorvaldur Gylfason and Tryggvi
Herbertsson. Macroeconomic Dynamics, 3 (1999), 204-225.
“A Nonparametric Analysis of Regional Unemployment Dynamics in Britain,” with Marco Bianchi. Journal of
Business, Economics and Statistics, 17 (2) (1999), 205-216.
“Quitting Externalities with Uncertainty about Future Productivity,” with Alison Booth. Oxford Economic Papers,
51 (1999), 374-386.
“How Effective are Firing Costs?,” with Yu-Fu Chen. Labour Economics, 6 (3) (1999), 335-354.
“Natural Rate Theory and Europe’s Unemployment,” with Edmund Phelps. The Economic Journal, 108 (1998),
782-801.
“Unemployment Persistence: Does the Size of the Shock Matter?” with Marco Bianchi. The Journal of Applied
Econometrics, 13 (3) (1998), 283-304.
“Challenges facing Natural Rate Theory,” with Marco Bianchi, European Economic Review, 41 (1997), 535-547.
“The Rise and Falling Trend of the Natural Rate,” with Edmund Phelps, American Economic Review, American
Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, 87 (2) (1997), 283-289.
“Public Consumption and Unemployment,” Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 44 (1997), 269-279.
“Wages ahead of Demand,” with J. Michael Orszag, Economics Letters, 53 (1996), 341-347.
“Do the Main Structural Forces of the 1970s and 1980s Account for the 1990s Slump as Well? with Edmund S.
Phelps, Rivista di Politica Economica, 83 (1993).
“Wage Distribution and Unemployment,” with Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Rivista di Politica Economica, 83 (1993).
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Books
Structural Slumps, with Edmund S. Phelps (collaborator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994.
Small Open Economies in an Era of Global Integration, with Mar Gudmundsson and Tryggvi Herbertsson (eds.),
University of Iceland Press, 2000.
Labour Market Adjustments in Europe, with Julian Messina, Claudio Michelacci and Jarkko Turunen (eds.),
London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005.
Preludes to the Icelandic Financial Crisis, with Robert Z. Aliber (eds.), London: Palgrave, 2011.
Book chapters
“Demographic Changes and Productivity Growth,” Capitalism in the 21st Century: Stagnation versus Growth in Europe?, XXVII
Edition of Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar, Springer, 2015, forthcoming.
“Employment, Investment and Asset Prices,” Microfoundations for Modern Macroeconomics, eds. Roman Frydman
and Edmund Phelps, Princeton University Press, 2013.
“A Spending Spree,” in Preludes to the Icelandic Financial Crisis, Robert Z. Aliber and Gylfi Zoega (eds.), London:
Palgrave 2011.
“Market Forces and the Continent’s Growth Problem,” Perspectives on the Performance of the Continent’s
Economies, eds. Edmund Phelps and Hans Werner Sinn, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2011
“The Collapse of a country," in Post-crisis Regulatory Reforms to Secure Financial Stability, Korea
Development Institute (KDI), edited by Seok-Kyun Hur and Taehoon Youn, 2010.
“Iceland Faces the Music,” in The First Global Crisis of the 21st Century, Andrew Felton and Carmen M. Reinhart
(editors), Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London, UK, 19-22, 2009.
“Entrepreneurship, Culture and Openness,” in Entrepreneurship and Openness: Theory and Evidence, eds. David B.
Audretsch , Robert Litan and Robert Strom, Kauffman Foundation, London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009.
“Edmund S. Phelps, a biography,” The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, eds. Steven N. Durlauf and
Lawrence E. Blume, London: Palgrave, 2008.
“The Road from Agriculture,” with Thorvaldur Gylfason, in Institutions for Development and Growth, eds. Theo
Eicher and Cecilia García-Penalosa, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006.
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“The Structuralist Perspective on Real Exchange Rates, Share Price Level and Employment Paths: What Room is
Left for Money?” with Hian Teck Hoon and Edmund Phelps, in Monetary Policy and Unemployment, ed. Willi
Semmler, London: Routledge, 2005.
“Unions to the Rescue,” with Alison Booth and Marco Francesconi, in Labour Market Adjustments in Europe, eds.
Julian Messina, Claudio Michelacci, Jarkko Turunen and Gylfi Zoega, London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005.
“Keynes and the Labour Market,” in Keynes’s General Theory and Current Views, eds. Jesper Jespersen and
Gudmundur Magnusson, University of Iceland Press, 2004.
“Inequality and Economic Growth: Do Natural Resources Matter?” with Thorvaldur Gylfason, in Inequality and
Growth: Theory and Policy Implications, eds. Theo Eicher and Stephen Turnovsky, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003.
“The Incidence of Increased Unemployment in the Group of Seven, 1970-1994,”
with Edmund Phelps. Festschrift in honour of Professor Emmanuel Drandakis, Athens School of Business and
Economics.
“European Integration, Liberalisation and Labour Market Performance,” with R.C.G. Haffner, Stephen Nickell,
Guiseppe Nicoletti and Stefano Scarpetta, 2000, report for the Foundazione Rodolfo DeBenedetti, later published in
Guiseppe Bertola, Tito Boeri and Guiseppe Nicoletti (eds.), Welfare and Employment in a United Europe, The MIT
Press, Cambridge (Mass.) and London, 2001.
“Wage Distribution and Unemployment,” with Jean-Paul Fitoussi, in The 1990s Slump: Causes and Cures, ed. M.
Baldassari, MacMillan Press, London, 1996.
“Can Structural Factors Account for the Slump of the 1990s?,” with Edmund S. Phelps, in The 1990s Slump: Causes
and Cures, ed. M. Baldassari, MacMillan Press, London, 1996.
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