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Cash-On-Hand and Competing Models of Intertemporal Behavior: New Evidence from the Labor Market

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Author Info
David Card (University of California at Berkeley and NBER)
Raj Chetty (University of California at Berkeley and NBER)
Andrea Weber (IHS-Vienna and University of California at Berkeley)

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Abstract

This paper presents new tests of the permanent income hypothesis and other widely used models of household behavior using data from the labor market. We estimate the excess sensitivity of job search behavior to cash-on-hand using sharp discontinuities in eligibility for severance pay and extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in Austria. Analyzing data for over one-half million job losers, we obtain three empirical results: (1) a lump-sum severance payment equal to two months of earnings reduces the job-finding rate by 8%-12% on average; (2) an extension of the potential duration of UI benefits from 20 weeks to 30 weeks similarly lowers job-finding rates in the first 20 weeks of search by 5%-9%; and (3) increases in the duration of search induced by the two programs have little or no effect on subsequent job match quality. Using a search-theoretic model, we show that estimates of the relative effect of severance pay and extended benefits can be used to calibrate and test a wide set of intertemporal models. Our estimates of this ratio are inconsistent with the predictions of a simple permanent income model, as well as naive rule of thumb behavior. The representative job searcher in our data is 70% of the way between the permanent income benchmark and credit-constrained behavior in terms of sensitivity to cash-on-hand. (c) 2007 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology..

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Article provided by MIT Press in its journal Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Volume (Year): 122 (2007)
Issue (Month): 4 (November)
Pages: 1511-1560
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Handle: RePEc:tpr:qjecon:v:122:y:2007:i:4:p:1511-1560

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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Andrea Ichino & Guido Schwerdt & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer & Josef Zweimüller, 2007. "Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire?," IZA Discussion Papers 3110, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Dora Gicheva & Justine Hastings & Sofia Villas-Boas, 2007. "Revisiting the Income Effect: Gasoline Prices and Grocery Purchases," NBER Working Papers 13614, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Tali Regev, 2006. "Unemployment insurance and the uninsured," Working Paper Series 2006-48, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
  4. Hassler, John & Rodríguez Mora, José Vicente, 2007. "Unemployment Insurance Design: Inducing Moving and Retraining," CEPR Discussion Papers 6364, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Doepke, Matthias & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2007. "Occupational Choice and the Spirit of Capitalism," CEPR Discussion Papers 6405, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Daniel Sullivan & Till von Wachter, 2007. "Mortality, Mass-Layoffs, and Career Outcomes: An Analysis using Administrative Data," NBER Working Papers 13626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. David Card & Raj Chetty & Andrea Weber, 2007. "The Spike at Benefit Exhaustion: Leaving the Unemployment System or Starting a New Job?," IZA Discussion Papers 2590, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  8. Reichling, Felix, 2006. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance in Labor Market Equilibrium when Workers can Self-Insure," MPRA Paper 5362, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Oct 2007. [Downloadable!]
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