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How Changes in Financial Incentives Affect the Duration of Unemployment

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Author Info
Lalive, Rafael
van Ours, Jan C
Zweimüller, Josef

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Abstract

This paper studies how changes in the two key parameters of unemployment insurance – the benefit replacement rate (RR) and the potential duration of benefits (PBD) – affect the duration of unemployment. In 1989, the Austrian government made unemployment insurance more generous by changing, simultaneously, the maximum duration of regular unemployment benefits and the earnings replacement ratio. We find that increasing the replacement ratio has much weaker disincentive effects than increasing the maximum duration of benefits. We use these results to split up the total costs to unemployment insurance funds into costs due to changes in the unemployment insurance system and costs due to behavioural responses of unemployed workers. Results indicate that costs due to behavioural responses are substantial.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 4986.

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Date of creation: Apr 2005
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4986

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Related research
Keywords: maximum benefit duration; policy change; replacement rate; unemployment duration; unemployment insurance;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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  1. Lalive, Rafael & Zweimüller, Josef, 2002. "Benefit Entitlement and the Labor Market: Evidence from a Large-Scale Policy Change," IZA Discussion Papers 444, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  2. Moffitt, Robert, 1985. "Unemployment insurance and the distribution of unemployment spells," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 85-101, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Lalive, Rafael & Zweimüller, Josef, 2002. "Benefit Entitlement and Unemployment Duration: The Role of Policy Endogeneity," IZA Discussion Papers 492, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Fredriksson, Peter & Holmlund, Bertil, 2003. "Improving Incentives in Unemployment Insurance: A Review of Recent Research," Working Paper Series 2003:10, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Heckman, James & Singer, Burton, 1984. "A Method for Minimizing the Impact of Distributional Assumptions in Econometric Models for Duration Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 271-320, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Lubyova, Martina & van Ours, Jan, 1997. "Unemployment dynamics and the restructuring of the Slovak unemployment benefit system," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 925-934, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Addison, John T. & Portugal, Pedro, 2004. "How does the unemployment insurance system shape the time profile of jobless duration?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 229-234, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Van den Berg, Gerard J., 2000. "Duration Models: Specification, Identification, and Multiple Durations," MPRA Paper 9446, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Green, David A & Riddell, W Craig, 1993. "The Economic Effects of Unemployment Insurance in Canada: An Empirical Analysis of UI Disentitlement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(1), pages S96-147, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Cockx, Bart & Ries, Jean, 2004. "The Exhaustion of Unemployment Benefits in Belgium: Does it Enhance the Probability of Employment?," IZA Discussion Papers 1177, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  12. van den Berg, Gerard J, 1990. "Nonstationarity in Job Search Theory," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(2), pages 255-77, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Katz, Lawrence F. & Meyer, Bruce D., 1990. "The impact of the potential duration of unemployment benefits on the duration of unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 45-72, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Atkinson, Anthony B & Micklewright, John, 1991. "Unemployment Compensation and Labor Market Transitions: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 1679-1727, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Carling, Kenneth & Edin, Per-Anders & Harkman, Anders & Holmlund, Bertil, 1996. "Unemployment duration, unemployment benefits, and labor market programs in Sweden," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 313-334, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 1998. "Potential Unemployment Benefit Duration and Spell Length: Lessons from a Quasi-Experiment in Austria," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 60(1), pages 33-45, February.
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  20. Card, David & Levine, Phillip B., 2000. "Extended benefits and the duration of UI spells: evidence from the New Jersey extended benefit program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 107-138, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Steiner, Viktor, 1997. "Extended benefit entitlement periods and the duration of unemployment in West Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 97-14, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  22. Adamchik, Vera, 1999. " The Effect of Unemployment Benefits on the Probability of Re-employment in Poland," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(1), pages 95-108, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Moffitt, Robert & Nicholson, Walter, 1982. "The Effect of Unemployment Insurance on Unemployment: The Case of Federal Supplemental Benefits," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(1), pages 1-11, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Stancanelli, Elena G F, 1999. "Unemployment Duration and the Duration of Entitlement to Unemployment Benefits: An Empirical Study for Britain," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 31(9), pages 1043-51, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Hunt, Jennifer, 1995. "The Effect of Unemployment Compensation on Unemployment Duration in Germany," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(1), pages 88-120, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Green, David A & Riddell, W Craig, 1997. "Qualifying for Unemployment Insurance: An Empirical Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(440), pages 67-84, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  27. Ham, John C & Rea, Samuel A, Jr, 1987. "Unemployment Insurance and Male Unemployment Duration in Canada," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(3), pages 325-53, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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