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.

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.

Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, second edition
Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, second edition

Author: Christopher A. Pissarides

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2000-03-02

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0262264064

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This book focuses on the modeling of the transitions in and out of unemployment, given the stochastic processes that break up jobs and lead to the formation of new jobs, and on the implications of this approach for macroeconomic equilibrium and for the efficiency of the labor market. An equilibrium theory of unemployment assumes that firms and workers maximize their payoffs under rational expectations and that wages are determined to exploit the private gains from trade. This book focuses on the modeling of the transitions in and out of unemployment, given the stochastic processes that break up jobs and lead to the formation of new jobs, and on the implications of this approach for macroeconomic equilibrium and for the efficiency of the labor market. This approach to labor market equilibrium and unemployment has been successful in explaining the determinants of the "natural" rate of unemployment and new data on job and worker flows, in modeling the labor market in equilibrium business cycle and growth models, and in analyzing welfare policy. The second edition contains two new chapters, one on endogenous job destruction and one on search on the job and job-to-job quitting. The rest of the book has been extensively rewritten and, in several cases, simplified.

A General Equilibrium Model of Sovereign Default and Business Cycles
A General Equilibrium Model of Sovereign Default and Business Cycles

Author: Vivian Z. Yue

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 1462330452

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Emerging markets business cycle models treat default risk as part of an exogenous interest rate on working capital, while sovereign default models treat income fluctuations as an exogenous endowment process with ad-noc default costs. We propose instead a general equilibrium model of both sovereign default and business cycles. In the model, some imported inputs require working capital financing; default on public and private obligations occurs simultaneously. The model explains several features of cyclical dynamics around default triggers an efficiency loss as these inputs are replaced by imperfect substitutes; and default on public and private obligations occurs simultaneously. The model explains several features of cyclical dynamics around deraults, countercyclical spreads, high debt ratios, and key business cycle moments.

Modelling Unemployment Insurance
Modelling Unemployment Insurance

Author: Paola Potestio

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-01-28

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 3030913198

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This book examines unemployment insurance policy through a survey, taking stock of the theoretical work in the field of labor economics. It closely follows and assesses developments in the modelling of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) policies, beginning with the initial analytical findings produced in the second half of the 1970s. A main part of the survey is devoted to the two basic strands of analysis about, respectively, the optimal level of UI benefits and the optimal time profile of UI policy. The book has two different objectives. The first is to provide an essential summary of the individual models, with the intention of underscoring how a number of specific messages for the policy-maker can be derived from analytical constructions. It further emphasizes and comments on what the models deliver to UI policy-makers. The second objective is to stress the importance and extension of open questions in the field of the theoretical approach to the unemployment insurance issue. The survey discusses the multiplicity of heterogeneities of the labor world in particular as relevant for UI issues on the one side, and on the other hand, the independence of the two basic choices of UI policy, its meaning and its limits, and the possible forms of complementarity between these choices. The book is a must-read for researchers, students, and policy-makers interested in a better understanding of the field of labor economics in general, as well as unemployment insurance policies in particular.

Unemployment Compensation Amendments
Unemployment Compensation Amendments

Author: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

Publisher: American Enterprise Institute Press

Published: 1976

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13:

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USA. Monograph commenting on amendments to labour legislation relating to unemployment benefit - summarizes new legislation and discusses new extended coverage to rural workers, domestic workers, civil servants, etc. Also covers financial aspects and occupational pension scheme. Statistical tables.

Revisiting the Informal Sector
Revisiting the Informal Sector

Author: Sarbajit Chaudhuri

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-10-15

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1441911944

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This book provides insight into the diverse aspects of the informal sector, its role in the context of unemployment, child labor, globalization and environment, as well as its multi-faceted interaction with the other sectors of the economy.