IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp3357.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unemployment Benefits and Reservation Wages: Key Elasticities from a Stripped-Down Job Search Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Addison, John T.

    (Durham University Business School)

  • Centeno, Mario

    (Banco de Portugal)

  • Portugal, Pedro

    (Banco de Portugal)

Abstract

This paper exploits survey information on reservation wages and data on actual wages from the European Community Household Panel to deduce in the manner of Lancaster and Chesher (1983) additional parameters of a stylized structural search model; specifically, reservation wage and transition/duration elasticities. The informational requirements of this approach are minimal, thereby facilitating comparisons between countries. Further, its policy content is immediate insofar as the impact of unemployment benefit rules and measures increasing the arrival rate of job offers are concerned. These key elasticities are computed for the United Kingdom and eleven other European nations.

Suggested Citation

  • Addison, John T. & Centeno, Mario & Portugal, Pedro, 2008. "Unemployment Benefits and Reservation Wages: Key Elasticities from a Stripped-Down Job Search Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 3357, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3357
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp3357.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lynch, Lisa M, 1983. "Job Search and Youth Unemployment," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(0), pages 271-282, Supplemen.
    2. Pedro Portugal & John T. Addison, 2004. "Reservation Wages, Search Duration, and Accepted Wages in Europe," Working Papers w200413, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    3. Devine, Theresa J. & Kiefer, Nicolas M., 1991. "Empirical Labor Economics: The Search Approach," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195059366.
    4. Lancaster, Tony & Chesher, Andrew, 1983. "An Econometric Analysis of Reservation Wages," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(6), pages 1661-1676, November.
    5. Ridder, Geert & Gorter, Kees, 1986. "Unemployment Benefits And Search Behavior An Empirical Investigation," University of Amsterdam, Actuarial Science and Econometrics Archive 293113, University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics and Business.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tom Krebs, 2014. "Labor Market Reform and the Cost of Business Cycles," 2014 Meeting Papers 1017, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    2. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2016. "Labor Market Institutions and the Cost of Recessions," CESifo Working Paper Series 6262, CESifo.
    3. Pannenberg, Markus, 2007. "Risk Aversion and Reservation Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 2806, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Mário Centeno & Álvaro A. Novo, 2014. "Do Low-Wage Workers React Less to Longer Unemployment Benefits? Quasi-Experimental Evidence," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(2), pages 185-207, April.
    5. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 664-701, December.
    6. Sarah Brown & Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2010. "Reservation wages, labour market participation and health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(3), pages 501-529, July.
    7. Antonio Accetturo & Luigi Infante, 2013. "Skills or culture? An analysis of the decision to work by immigrant women in Italy," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-21, December.
    8. Mark Stater & Jeffrey B Wenger, 2017. "The Immediate Hardship of Unemployment: Evidence from the US Unemployment Insurance System," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(1), pages 17-36, January.
    9. John Addison & Mário Centeno & Pedro Portugal, 2009. "Do Reservation Wages Really Decline? Some International Evidence on the Determinants of Reservation Wages," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 1-8, March.
    10. B. Contini & J. Ignacio Garcia Perez & T. Pusch & R. Quaranta, 2017. "New Approaches to the Study of Long Term Non-Employment Duration in Italy, Germany and Spain," Working Papers 2017-14, FEDEA.
    11. Brown, Sarah & Taylor, Karl, 2013. "Reservation wages, expected wages and unemployment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 119(3), pages 276-279.
    12. Brown, Sarah & Taylor, Karl, 2011. "Reservation wages, market wages and unemployment: Analysis of individual level panel data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 1317-1327, May.
    13. Martin Abraham & Katrin Auspurg & Sebastian Bähr & Corinna Frodermann & Stefanie Gundert & Thomas Hinz, 2013. "Unemployment and willingness to accept job offers: results of a factorial survey experiment [Arbeitslosigkeit und Stellenannahmebereitschaft: Erste Ergebnisse eines Faktoriellen Survey Moduls]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 46(4), pages 283-305, December.
    14. Sarah Brown & Karl Taylor, 2008. "Reservation Wages, Expected Wages and Labour Market Outcomes: Analysis of Individual Level Panel Data," Working Papers 2008008, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2008.
    15. Mr. Tom Krebs & Mr. Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Working Papers 2013/042, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Talarowski, David, 2012. "Estimation des élasticités du modèle de recherche d'emploi sur données françaises [Estimation of the elasticities of the model of job search on French data]," MPRA Paper 38366, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Sarah Brown & Karl Taylor, "undated". "Reservation Wages, Expected wages and the duration of Unemployment: evidence from British Panel data," Working Papers 2009001, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    18. Joanne Lee & Karen Needels & Walter Nicholson, "undated". "A Longitudinal Survey of Unemployment Insurance Recipients in Two Regions in California," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 982c8e2b780e479ea249e7b05, Mathematica Policy Research.
    19. Krebs, Tom & Scheffel, Martin, 2016. "Quantifizierung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Effekte ausgewählter Reformvorschläge der Studie "Reforms, Investment and Growth: An Agenda for France, Germany and Europe"," Working Papers 16-04, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
    20. Sarah Brown & Karl Taylor, 2008. "Expectations, Reservation Wages And Employment: Evidence From British Panel Data," Working Papers 2008007, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised May 2008.
    21. repec:wrk:warwec:991 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Gutknecht, Daniel, 2012. "Do Reservation Wages Decline Monotonically? A Novel Statistical Test," Economic Research Papers 270635, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    23. Arni, Patrick, 2017. "What Drives Wage Effects of Unemployment Benefits? Evidence from Natural Experiments and Reservation Wage Data," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168154, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    24. Abraham, Martin & Auspurg, Katrin & Bähr, Sebastian & Frodermann, Corinna & Gundert, Stefanie & Hinz, Thomas, 2013. "Unemployment and willingness to accept job offers : results of a factorial survey experiment (Arbeitslosigkeit und Stellenannahmebereitschaft : Erste Ergebnisse eines Faktoriellen Survey Moduls)," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 46(4), pages 283-305.
    25. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 664-701, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John W. Schindler, 2001. "Testing optimality in job search models," International Finance Discussion Papers 710, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Aysit Tansel & H. Mehmet Taşçı, 2010. "Hazard Analysis of Unemployment Duration by Gender in a Developing Country: The Case of Turkey," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 24(4), pages 501-530, December.
    3. Sarah Brown & Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2010. "Reservation wages, labour market participation and health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(3), pages 501-529, July.
    4. José Ignacio García Pérez, 2003. "Non-stationary Job Search When Jobs Do Not Last Forever: A Structural Estimation to Evaluate Alternative Unemployment Insurance Systems," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2003/49, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    5. John T. Addison & José A. F. Machado & Pedro Portugal, 2013. "The Reservation Wage Unemployment Duration Nexus," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(6), pages 980-987, December.
    6. van den Berg, Gerard J, 1999. "Empirical Inference with Equilibrium Search Models of the Labour Market," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(456), pages 283-306, June.
    7. Pedro Portugal & John T. Addison, 2004. "Key Elasticities in Job Search Theory: International Evidence," Working Papers w200412, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    8. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/9704 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Yann Algan & Antoine Terracol, 2001. "L'influence de l'épargne de précaution sur la recherche d'emploi," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 349(1), pages 63-76.
    10. Carling, Kenneth & Holmlund, Bertil & Vejsiu, Altin, 2001. "Do Benefit Cuts Boost Job Finding? Swedish Evidence from the 1990s," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(474), pages 766-790, October.
    11. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8884 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Bloemen, Hans G & Stancanelli, Elena G F, 2001. "Individual Wealth, Reservation Wages, and Transitions into Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 400-439, April.
    13. Stefano DellaVigna & M. Daniele Paserman, 2005. "Job Search and Impatience," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(3), pages 527-588, July.
    14. J. Ignacio García‐Pérez, 2006. "Job separation in a non‐stationary search model: a structural estimation to evaluate alternative unemployment insurance systems," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 245-272, March.
    15. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    16. Christensen, Bent Jesper & Kiefer, Nicholas M, 1994. "Measurement Error in the Prototypal Job-Search Model," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(4), pages 618-639, October.
    17. J. Ignacio García Pérez, 2001. "Non-stationary job search when jobs are not forever: A structural estimation," Economics Working Papers 556, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    18. van den Berg, Gerard J., 1995. "Explicit expressions for the reservation wage path and the unemployment duration density in nonstationary job search models," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 187-198, June.
    19. Paul J. Devereux, 2004. "Cyclical Quality Adjustment in the Labor Market," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(3), pages 600-615, January.
    20. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/9704 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Padma Rao Sahib, 2000. "The information content of wage and duration data in a search model," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(14), pages 1831-1839.
    22. Levinsohn, James & Pugatch, Todd, 2014. "Prospective analysis of a wage subsidy for Cape Town youth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 169-183.
    23. Richard J. Boys & Peter J. Dolton & Neil R. Walker, 2007. "Adapting the optimal job search model for active labour market policy," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(3), pages 759-779, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    probability of reemployment; unemployment benefits; arrival rate of job offers; wage offer distributions; reservation wages; accepted wages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3357. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.