This paper aims to understand the conceptual and theoretical framework of the employer of last resort (ELR) program and analyze the arguments in favor of and against its implementation in Brazil. As structural unemployment is a problem which affects all capitalist economies around the world, would it be possible to eliminate it from the Brazilian economy without generating an inflationary process? Or, as the economists of the new consensus argue, would it be necessary to promote a labor market reform policy? The hypothesis, based on the critical theory of Minsky (1986) and Wray (2003) on the contemporary development of capitalism, is that if the government acts as an ELR, structural unemployment could be entirely eliminated from the economy without provoking an inflationary process, nor experiencing negative effects caused by labor market reform policies.
Employer of last resort; Structural unemployment; New consensus
