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A Test between Unemployment Theories Using Matching Data

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Author Info
Coles, Melvyn (University of Essex and IZA Bonn)
Petrongolo, Barbara () (London School of Economics, CEP, CEPR and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

This paper tests whether aggregate matching is consistent with unemployment being mainly due to search frictions or due to job queues. Using U.K. data and correcting for temporal aggregation bias, estimates of the random matching function are consistent with previous work in this field, but random matching is formally rejected by the data. The data instead support "stock-flow" matching. Estimates find that around 50% of newly unemployed workers match quickly - they are interpreted as being on the short-side of their skill markets. The remaining workers match slowly, their re-employment rates depending statistically on the inflow of new vacancies and not on the vacancy stock. Having failed to match with existing vacancies, these workers wait for the arrival of new job vacancies. The results have important policy implications, particularly with reference to the design of optimal unemployment insurance programs.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 723.

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Length: 30 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2003
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp723

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Related research
Keywords: matching unemployment temporal aggregation

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution
J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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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. Berman, Eli, 1997. "Help Wanted, Job Needed: Estimates of a Matching Function from Employment Service Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages S251-92, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Yashiv, E., 1999. "The Determinants of Equilibrium Unemployment," Papers 36-99, Tel Aviv.
    Other versions:
  6. Ricardo Lagos, 2000. "An Alternative Approach to Search Frictions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 851-873, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Diamond, Peter A, 1982. "Aggregate Demand Management in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(5), pages 881-94, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. R Jackman & C Pissarides & S Savouri, 1990. "Labour Market Policies and Unemployment in the OECD," CEP Discussion Papers 011, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
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  11. Davidson, Carl & Woodbury, Stephen A., 1997. "Optimal unemployment insurance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 359-387, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Coles, Melvyn G, 1999. "Turnover Externalities with Marketplace Trading," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(4), pages 851-68, November.
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  14. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Peter Diamond, 1990. "The Beveridge Curve," NBER Reprints 1405, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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  15. Fredriksson, Peter & Holmlund, Bertil, 2001. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 370-99, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Coles, Melvyn G & Smith, Eric, 1998. "Marketplaces and Matching," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(1), pages 239-54, February.
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  17. Steven Shavell & Laurence Weiss, 1978. "The Optimal Payment of Unemployment Insurance Benefits over Time," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 503, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Coles, Melvyn G & Muthoo, Abhinay, 1998. "Strategic Bargaining and Competitive Bidding in a Dynamic Market Equilibrium," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 65(2), pages 235-60, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Richard Freeman, 2002. "Institutional Differences and Economic Performance Among OECD Countries," CEP Discussion Papers 0557, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  20. Taylor, Curtis R, 1995. "The Long Side of the Market and the Short End of the Stick: Bargaining Power and Price Formation in Buyers', Sellers', and Balanced Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(3), pages 837-55, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Barbara Petrongolo & Christopher A. Pissarides, 2001. "Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 390-431, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Hopenhayn, Hugo A & Nicolini, Juan Pablo, 1997. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(2), pages 412-38, April.
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  25. Alex Bryson & Lorenzo Cappellari & Claudio Lucifora, 2003. "Does Union Membership Really Reduce Job Satisfaction?," CEP Discussion Papers dp0569, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  26. Burdett, Kenneth & Coles, Melvyn G & van Ours, Jan C, 1994. "Temporal Aggregation Bias in Stock-Flow Models," CEPR Discussion Papers 967, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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. Robert Shimer, 2006. "Mismatch," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Aki Kangasharju & Jaakko Pehkonen & Sari Pekkala, 2005. "Returns to scale in a matching model: evidence from disaggregated panel data," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 115-118, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Stephen R.G. Jones & W. Craig Riddell, 2002. "Unemployment and Non-Employment: Heterogeneities in Labour Market States," Department of Economics Working Papers 2002-05, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Jekaterina Dmitrijeva & Mihails Hazans, 2005. "A stock-flow matching approach to evaluation of public training program in a high unemployment environment," Labor and Demography 0506007, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Sunde, Uwe, 2002. "Unobserved Bilateral Search on the Labor Market: A Theory-Based Correction for a Common Flaw in Empirical Matching Studies," IZA Discussion Papers 520, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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