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.


Behavioral Responses to Risk in Rural China

Behavioral Responses to Risk in Rural China

Author: Jyotsna Jalan

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 39

ISBN-13:

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September 1998 Does risk perpetuate poverty in a credit-constrained economy? Income risk appears not to discourage schooling but does inhibit the out-migration of labor. Only a small share of wealth is held in unproductive liquid forms to protect against income risk. Does risk perpetuate poverty in a credit-constrained economy? Jalan and Ravallion study portfolio and other behavioral responses to measured risk using household panel data for rural China. One-quarter of wealth is held in unproductive liquid forms. But only a small share of this appears to be a precaution against income risk. The authors estimate that eliminating income risk would reduce the share of wealth held in liquid form by less than 1 percentage point. Moreover, that effect is confined largely to middle-income groups; high-income households do not, it seems, need to hold unproductive precautionary wealth, and the poor probably cannot afford to do so. The authors find no evidence that income risk discourages schooling, but risk does inhibit the out-migration of labor. Generally, the results provide only limited support for the idea that uninsured risks promote unproductive portfolio behavior in this setting. There is such an effect, but it is small in magnitude and cannot be deemed an important cause of poverty. This paper-a product of Poverty and Human Resources, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to better understand the causes of poverty. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Dynamics of Poverty in Rural China (RPO 678-69). The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].


British Economic Growth, 1270–1870

British Economic Growth, 1270–1870

Author: Stephen Broadberry

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-01-22

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 1107070783

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This is the first systematic quantitative account of British economic growth from the thirteenth century to the Industrial Revolution.


Income Contingent Loans

Income Contingent Loans

Author: Timothy Higgins

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-05-28

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1137413204

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This study explores the prospect of the application of the basic principles of ICL into many other potential areas of social and economic policy. Using case studies it evaluates previously implemented ICL schemes where interest rate subsidies are usually the norm, and questions the merits of this approach.


The Economics of Consumption

The Economics of Consumption

Author: Tullio Jappelli

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 0199383154

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In The Economics of Consumption, Tullio Jappelli and Luigi Pistaferri provide a comprehensive examination of the most important developments in the field of consumption decisions and evaluate economic models against empirical evidence.


Improving the Measurement of Consumer Expenditures

Improving the Measurement of Consumer Expenditures

Author: Christopher D. Carroll

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2015-06-16

Total Pages: 517

ISBN-13: 022612665X

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Robust and reliable measures of consumer expenditures are essential for analyzing aggregate economic activity and for measuring differences in household circumstances. Many countries, including the United States, are embarking on ambitious projects to redesign surveys of consumer expenditures, with the goal of better capturing economic heterogeneity. This is an appropriate time to examine the way consumer expenditures are currently measured, and the challenges and opportunities that alternative approaches might present. Improving the Measurement of Consumer Expenditures begins with a comprehensive review of current methodologies for collecting consumer expenditure data. Subsequent chapters highlight the range of different objectives that expenditure surveys may satisfy, compare the data available from consumer expenditure surveys with that available from other sources, and describe how the United States’s current survey practices compare with those in other nations.


General Theory Of Employment , Interest And Money

General Theory Of Employment , Interest And Money

Author: John Maynard Keynes

Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Dist

Published: 2016-04

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 9788126905911

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John Maynard Keynes is the great British economist of the twentieth century whose hugely influential work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and * is undoubtedly the century's most important book on economics--strongly influencing economic theory and practice, particularly with regard to the role of government in stimulating and regulating a nation's economic life. Keynes's work has undergone significant revaluation in recent years, and "Keynesian" views which have been widely defended for so long are now perceived as at odds with Keynes's own thinking. Recent scholarship and research has demonstrated considerable rivalry and controversy concerning the proper interpretation of Keynes's works, such that recourse to the original text is all the more important. Although considered by a few critics that the sentence structures of the book are quite incomprehensible and almost unbearable to read, the book is an essential reading for all those who desire a basic education in economics. The key to understanding Keynes is the notion that at particular times in the business cycle, an economy can become over-productive (or under-consumptive) and thus, a vicious spiral is begun that results in massive layoffs and cuts in production as businesses attempt to equilibrate aggregate supply and demand. Thus, full employment is only one of many or multiple macro equilibria. If an economy reaches an underemployment equilibrium, something is necessary to boost or stimulate demand to produce full employment. This something could be business investment but because of the logic and individualist nature of investment decisions, it is unlikely to rapidly restore full employment. Keynes logically seizes upon the public budget and government expenditures as the quickest way to restore full employment. Borrowing the * to finance the deficit from private households and businesses is a quick, direct way to restore full employment while at the same time, redirecting or siphoning


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.