Optimal Unemployment Insurance
Optimal Unemployment Insurance

Author: Andreas Pollak

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9783161493041

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Designing a good unemployment insurance scheme is a delicate matter. In a system with no or little insurance, households may be subject to a high income risk, whereas excessively generous unemployment insurance systems are known to lead to high unemployment rates and are costly both from a fiscal perspective and for society as a whole. Andreas Pollak investigates what an optimal unemployment insurance system would look like, i.e. a system that constitutes the best possible compromise between income security and incentives to work. Using theoretical economic models and complex numerical simulations, he studies the effects of benefit levels and payment durations on unemployment and welfare. As the models allow for considerable heterogeneity of households, including a history-dependent labor productivity, it is possible to analyze how certain policies affect individuals in a specific age, wealth or skill group. The most important aspect of an unemployment insurance system turns out to be the benefits paid to the long-term unemployed. If this parameter is chosen too high, a large number of households may get caught in a long spell of unemployment with little chance of finding work again. Based on the predictions in these models, the so-called "Hartz IV" labor market reform recently adopted in Germany should have highly favorable effects on the unemployment rates and welfare in the long run.

Supply and Demand Effects of Unemployment Insurance Benefit Extensions: Evidence from U.S. Counties
Supply and Demand Effects of Unemployment Insurance Benefit Extensions: Evidence from U.S. Counties

Author: Klaus-Peter Hellwig

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2021-03-12

Total Pages: 35

ISBN-13: 1513572687

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I use three decades of county-level data to estimate the effects of federal unemployment benefit extensions on economic activity. To overcome the reverse causality coming from the fact that benefit extensions are a function of state unemployment rates, I only use the within-state variation in outcomes to identify treatment effects. Identification rests on a differences-in-differences approach which exploits heterogeneity in county exposure to policy changes. To distinguish demand and supply-side channels, I estimate the model separately for tradable and non-tradable sectors. Finally I use benefit extensions as an instrument to estimate local fiscal multipliers of unemployment benefit transfers. I find (i) that the overall impact of benefit extensions on activity is positive, pointing to strong demand effects; (ii) that, even in tradable sectors, there are no negative supply-side effects from work disincentives; and (iii) a fiscal multiplier estimate of 1.92, similar to estimates in the literature for other types of spending.

Unemployment Insurance Reform
Unemployment Insurance Reform

Author: David E. Balducchi

Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute

Published: 2018-09-11

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0880996528

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The Unemployment Insurance (UI) system is a lasting piece of the Social Security Act which was enacted in 1935. But like most things that are over 80 years old, it occasionally needs maintenance to keep it operating smoothly while keeping up with the changing demands placed upon it. However, the UI system has been ignored by policymakers for decades and, say the authors, it is broken, out of date, and badly in need of repair. Stephen A. Wandner pulls together a group of UI researchers, each with decades of experience, who describe the weaknesses in the current system and propose policy reforms that they say would modernize the system and prepare us for the next recession.

Designing Labor Market Institutions in Emerging and Developing Economies
Designing Labor Market Institutions in Emerging and Developing Economies

Author: Mr.Romain A Duval

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 58

ISBN-13: 1498313264

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This paper discusses theoretical aspects and evidences related to designing labor market institutions in emerging market and developing economies. This note reviews the state of theory and evidence on the design of labor market institutions in a developing economy context and then reviews its consistency with actual labor market advice in a selected set of emerging and developing economies. The focus is mainly on three broad sets of institutions that matter for both workers’ protection and labor market efficiency: employment protection, unemployment insurance and social assistance, minimum wages and collective bargaining. Text mining techniques are used to identify IMF recommendations in these areas in Article IV Reports for 30 emerging and frontier economies over 2005–2016. This note has provided a critical review of the literature on the design of labor market institutions in emerging and developing market economies, and benchmarked the advice featured in IMF recommendations for 30 emerging market and frontier economies against the tentative conclusions from the literature.

Unemployment Insurance
Unemployment Insurance

Author: W. Lee Hansen

Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press

Published: 1989-12-31

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 9780299123543

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Modeled after Wisconsin's own unemployment compensation plan in the 1930s, federal unemployment insurance has long been considered one of the most important public policy achievements of the New Deal. Always paying benefits according to legislative and administrative guidelines and never requiring a taxpayer bailout, the program has nonetheless undergone strains induced by structural changes in both the economy and the prevailing political milieu. An outgrowth of a conference to celebrate the program's fiftieth anniversary, the papers collected in this volume describe the history of the program, analyze the strains it has undergone and that it faces in the 1990s, delineate the source of current debates over unemployment compensation, and offer suggestions for the future of the program.

The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search
The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search

Author: Ute-Christine Klehe PhD

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-05-08

Total Pages: 633

ISBN-13: 0190903503

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Job search is and always has been an integral part of people's working lives. Whether one is brand new to the labor market or considered a mature, experienced worker, job seekers are regularly met with new challenges in a variety of organizational settings. Edited by Ute-Christine Klehe and Edwin A.J. van Hooft, The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search provides readers with one of the first comprehensive overviews of the latest research and empirical knowledge in the areas of job loss and job search. Multidisciplinary in nature, Klehe, van Hooft, and their contributing authors offer fascinating insight into the diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives from which job loss and job search have been studied, such as psychology, sociology, labor studies, and economics. Discussing the antecedents and consequences of job loss, as well as outside circumstances that may necessitate a more rigorous job hunt, this Handbook presents in-depth and up-to-date knowledge on the methods and processes of this important time in one's life. Further, it examines the unique circumstances faced by different populations during their job search, such as those working job-to-job, the unemployed, mature job seekers, international job seekers, and temporary employed workers. Job loss and unemployment are among the worst stressors individuals can encounter during their lifetimes. As a result, this Handbook concludes with a discussion of the various types of interventions developed to aid the unemployed. Further, it offers readers important insights and identifies best practices for both scholars and practitioners working in the areas of job loss, unemployment, career transitions, outplacement, and job search.

The effect of the unemployment insurance wage replacement rate on reemployment wages: A dynamic discrete time hazard model with unobserved heterogeneity
The effect of the unemployment insurance wage replacement rate on reemployment wages: A dynamic discrete time hazard model with unobserved heterogeneity

Author: Zafar Nazarov

Publisher: Litres

Published: 2022-01-29

Total Pages: 19

ISBN-13: 5041500363

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This study estimates the effect of the unemployment insurance wage replacement rate on reemployment wages in the U.S. using the sample of men in the 1996 and 2001 Surveys of Income and Program Participation. I model employment search behavior in a dynamic discrete time hazard setting with three possible outcomes: finding a full-time job, finding a part-time job, or staying unemployed (continuing the job search). I find that reemployment wages decrease with the unemployment insurance wage replacement rate. Furthermore, the wage replacement rate depresses the prospect of finding full-time work while increasing the prospect of finding part-time work.