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The Exhaustion of Unemployment Benefits in Belgium: Does it Enhance the Probability of Employment?

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  • Cockx, Bart

    (Ghent University)

  • Ries, Jean

    (Université catholique de Louvain)

Abstract

In Belgium unemployment insurance benefits can only exhaust for one category of workers: partners of workers with (replacement) labour income (mostly women) may loose their entitlement after an unemployment duration ranging from two to eight years, depending on individual characteristics. We contrast three propensity score matching estimators of the impact of benefit exhaustion on the probability of employment: a standard, a before-after and an IV matching estimator. We conclude that benefit expiration is anticipated as from the moment at which the worker is notified, three months in advance, and that it gradually increases the employment rate up to 25 percentage points 14 months after benefit withdrawal.

Suggested Citation

  • Cockx, Bart & Ries, Jean, 2004. "The Exhaustion of Unemployment Benefits in Belgium: Does it Enhance the Probability of Employment?," IZA Discussion Papers 1177, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1177
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    Cited by:

    1. Rafael Lalive & Jan Van Ours & Josef Zweimuller, 2006. "How Changes in Financial Incentives Affect the Duration of Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(4), pages 1009-1038.
    2. Bart, COCKX & Muriel, DEJEMEPPE, 2007. "IIs the Notification of Monitoring a Threat to the Unemployed ? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2007016, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques.
    3. Simoes, Nadia, 2013. "Subsídio de desemprego: uma revisão da literatura teórica e empírica [Unemployment insurance: a survey]," MPRA Paper 52332, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Christian, GOEBEL, 2006. "The effect of temporary employment subsidies on employment duration," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2006035, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques.
    5. Bart Cockx & Muriel Dejemeppe, 2010. "The Threat of Monitoring Job Search. A Discontinuity Design," CESifo Working Paper Series 3267, CESifo.
    6. Anton Nivorozhkin, 2005. "New estimates of the risk and duration of registered unemployment in urban Russia," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 60, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    7. David R. Howell & Miriam Rehm, 2009. "Unemployment compensation and high European unemployment: a reassessment with new benefit indicators," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 60-93, Spring.
    8. Cockx, Bart & Dejemeppe, Muriel, 2012. "Monitoring job search effort: An evaluation based on a regression discontinuity design," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 729-737.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    unemployment insurance; programme evaluation; before-after estimator; nonparametric methods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General

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