The Effect of Government Size on Unemployment: Study of Abrams Curve in Developed and Developing Countries

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between government size and the unemployment rate based on Abrams curve. For this purpose, a number of developed and developing countries data during 2013-2000, using error correction model in panel data method is used. Long-term model results in both groups of countries shows a significant relationship between the size of government and unemployment rate. But this relationship is negative and significant in developing countries; this means that the decline in unemployment will require increasing the size of government. While in developed countries the size of government has a significant positive relation with the unemployment rate. This result confirms that the Abrams curve is true in developed countries. But in developing countries cannot be confirmed. The error correction model results show that in developing countries the imbalance modified 0.07 per period and unemployment rate will move towards equilibrium.