This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Comparing the Effectiveness of Employment Subsidies

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Brown, Alessio J G
Merkl, Christian
Snower, Dennis J.

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

This paper analyses theoretically and empirically how employment subsidies should be targeted. We contrast measures involving targeting workers with low incomes/abilities and targeting the unemployed under the criteria of "approximate welfare efficiency" (AWE). Thereby we can identify policies that (a)improve employment and welfare, (b)do not raise earnings inequality and (c)are self-financing. We construct a microfounded, dynamic model of hiring and separations and calibrate it with German data. The calibration shows that hiring vouchers can be AWE, while low-wage subsidies do not satisfy AWE. Furthermore, hiring vouchers targeted at the long-term unemployed are more effective than those targeted at low-ability workers.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP6334.asp
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Publisher Info
Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 6334.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Jun 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6334

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 53--56 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DG
Phone: 44 - 20 - 7183 8801
Fax: 44 - 20 - 7183 8820

Order Information:
Email:

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords: duration; employment; hiring voucher; low wage subsidy; self-financing; targeting; unemployment;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Public Policy

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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. J. Michael Orszag & Dennis J. Shower, 2000. "The Effectiveness of Employment Vouchers: A Simple Approach," German Economic Review, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(4), pages 385-419, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Dickens, William T & Lang, Kevin, 1988. "The Reemergence of Segmented Labor Market Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 129-34, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Orszag, J. Michael & Snower, Dennis J., 2003. "Designing employment subsidies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 557-572, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Paul Krugman, 1994. "Past and prospective causes of high unemployment," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Jan, pages 49-98.
    Other versions:
  5. Fahr, René & Sunde, Uwe, 2001. "Disaggregate Matching Functions," IZA Discussion Papers 335, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Snower, Dennis J., 1994. "Converting Unemployment Benefits into Employment Subsidies," CEPR Discussion Papers 930, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Mortensen, Dale T & Pissarides, Christopher A, 1994. "Job Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of Unemployment," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 61(3), pages 397-415, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Bovenberg, A. Lans & Graafland, Johan J. & de Mooij, Ruud A., 2000. "Tax reform and the Dutch labor market: an applied general equilibrium approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 193-214, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Boone, J. & Ours, J.C. van, 2004. "Effective active labor market policies," Discussion Paper 87, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Michael Kremer & Eric Maskin, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation by Skill," NBER Working Papers 5718, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Lawrence F. Katz, 1996. "Wage Subsidies for the Disadvantaged," NBER Working Papers 5679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Coe, David T & Snower, Dennis J., 1997. "Policy Complementarities: The Case for Fundamental Labour Market Reform," CEPR Discussion Papers 1585, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Alfred Boss, 2006. "Brauchen wir einen Kombilohn?," Kiel Working Papers 1279, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  14. Brian Bell & Richard Blundell & John Van Reenen, 1999. "Getting the unemployed back to work: the role of targeted wage subsidies," IFS Working Papers W99/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Hui, Weng T. & Trivedi, P. K., 1986. "Duration dependence, targeted employment subsidies and unemployment benefits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 105-129, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Lars Ljungqvist & Thomas J. Sargent, 1998. "The European Unemployment Dilemma," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(3), pages 514-550, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Gabriele Cardullo & Bruno Van der Linden, 2006. "Employment Subsidies and Substitutable Skills: An Equilibrium Matching Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 2073, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. DREZEÊ, JacquesÊH. & SNEESSENSÊ, Henri, 1994. "Technical Development, Competition from Low-Wage Economies and Low-Skilled Unemployment," CORE Discussion Papers 1994036, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  19. Orszag, J.M. & Snower, D.J., 1998. "Anatomy of Policy Complementarities," Research Institute of Industrial Economics Working Papers 500, Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN).
    Other versions:
  20. Oliver Jean Blanchard & Peter Diamond, 1989. "The Beveridge Curve," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 20(1989-1), pages 1-76. [Downloadable!]
  21. Yu-Fu Chen & Michael Funke, 2003. "Labour Demand in Germany: An Assessment of Non-Wage Labour Costs," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  22. Gilles Saint Paul, 1998. "The Political Consequences of Unemployment," Economics Working Papers 343, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
  23. Christopher J. O'Leary & Paul T. Decker & Stephen A. Wandner, 2003. "Cost-Effectiveness of Targeted Reemployment Bonuses," Staff Working Papers 03-51, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Wilke, Ralf A., 2004. "New Estimates of the Duration and Risk of Unemployment for West-Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-26, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  25. J. Michael Orszag & Dennis Snower, 1999. "Youth unemployment and government policy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 197-213. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Hans-Werner Sinn & Christian Holzner & Wolfgang Meister & Wolfgang Ochel & Martin Werding, 2006. "Aktivierende Sozialhilfe 2006 - das Kombilohn-Modell des ifo Instituts," Ifo Schnelldienst, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 59(02), pages 06-27, October. [Downloadable!]
  27. Warren, Ronald Jr., 1996. "Returns to scale in a matching model of the labor market," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 135-142, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Regina Riphahn & Anja Thalmaier & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 1999. "Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen für Geringqualifizierte," IZA Research Reports 2, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  29. Michael Kremer & Eric Maskin, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1777, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
  30. Dennis J. Snower & Christian Merkl, 2006. "The Caring Hand that Cripples: The East German Labor Market after Reunification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 375-382, May. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  31. Freeman, Richard B, 1995. "Are Your Wages Set in Beijing?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 15-32, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Frank Oskamp & Dennis J. Snower, 2006. "The Effect of Low-Wage Subsidies on Skills and Employment," Kiel Working Papers 1292, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  33. Keane, Michael P & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1997. "The Career Decisions of Young Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(3), pages 473-522, June.
    Other versions:
  34. Orszag, J. Michael & Snower, Dennis J., 2002. "Unemployment Vouchers versus Low-Wage Subsidies," IZA Discussion Papers 537, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  35. René Fahr & Uwe Sunde, 2004. "Occupational job creation: patterns and implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(3), pages 407-435, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

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. Frank Oskamp & Dennis J. Snower, 2007. "Interactions between Employment and Training Policies," Kiel Working Papers 1389, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  2. Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2008. "Escaping the Unemployment Trap: The Case of East Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 3681, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Jochen Michaelis & Alexander Spermann, 2009. "Geringqualifizierte Arbeit, Marktlöhne und Sozialpolitik: Konzepte für Deutschland," MAGKS Papers on Economics 200920, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung). [Downloadable!]
  4. Christian Merkl & Dennis J. Snower, 2007. "Escaping the Unemployment Trap — The Case of East Germany," Kiel Working Papers 1309, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  5. Alessio J. G. Brown & Dennis Snower, 2009. "Incentives and Complementarities of Flexicurity," Kiel Working Papers 1526, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
  6. Lechthaler, Wolfgang & Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2008. "Monetary Persistence and the Labor Market: A New Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 3513, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? IDEAS also computes impact factors for journals and working paper series.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-25.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.