Unemployment is contagious

The latest jobs report showed unemployment dropping to a remarkable 4.2 percent. It hasn't been that low since late 1999. But unemployment will be back some day. And policymakers would do well to keep something in mind if they want to fight it effectively. Put simply: Unemployment is contagious. Pavlina Tchervena, a professor at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, wrote a paper arguing that the mechanics by which unemployment spreads are literally those of a disease or...