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Labor Market Responses to Unemployment Insurance: The Role of Heterogeneity

Author

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  • Serdar Birinci
  • Kurt See

Abstract

We document considerable scope of heterogeneity within the unemployed, especially when they are divided along eligibility for and receipt of unemployment insurance (UI). We study the implications of this heterogeneity on UI's insurance-incentive trade-off using a heterogeneous-agent job search model capable of matching the wealth and income differences that distinguish UI recipients from nonrecipients. Insurance benefits are larger for UI recipients who are predominantly wealth poor. Meanwhile, incentive costs are nonmonotonic in wealth because the poorest individuals, who value employment, exhibit weak responses. Differential elasticities imply that accounting for the composition of recipients is material to the evaluation of UI's insurance-incentive trade-off.

Suggested Citation

  • Serdar Birinci & Kurt See, 2023. "Labor Market Responses to Unemployment Insurance: The Role of Heterogeneity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 388-430, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:15:y:2023:i:3:p:388-430
    DOI: 10.1257/mac.20200057
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. The insured unemployment rate : Those receiving vs. those eligible for unemployment insurance benefits
      by ? in FRED blog on 2023-12-14 14:00:00

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Joonseok Oh & Anna Rogantini Picco, 2025. "Macro Uncertainty, Unemployment Risk, And Consumption Dynamics," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 66(1), pages 287-312, February.
    2. Andre Luduvice & Anaya Truss-Williams, 2024. "How Insured Are Workers Against Unemployment? Unemployment Insurance and the Distribution of Liquid Wealth," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, vol. 2024(16), pages 1-8, October.
    3. Birinci, Serdar, 2025. "Comment on “How to fund unemployment insurance with informality and false claims: Evidence from Senegal” by Ndiaye, Herkenhoff, Cissé, Dell’Acqua, and Mbaye," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    4. Griffy, Benjamin & Masters, Adrian & You, Kai, 2025. "Unemployment insurance and job polarization," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Ndiaye, Abdoulaye & Herkenhoff, Kyle & Cissé, Abdoulaye & Dell’Acqua, Alessandro & Mbaye, Ahmadou A., 2025. "How to fund unemployment insurance with informality and false claims: Evidence from Senegal," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    6. Serdar Birinci & Kurt See, 2024. "The Implications of Labor Market Heterogeneity for Unemployment Insurance Design," Working Papers 2024-026, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised 23 Jan 2026.
    7. Cai, Zhifeng & Heathcote, Jonathan, 2023. "The Great Resignation and Optimal Unemployment Insurance," CEPR Discussion Papers 18526, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Martin Gervais & Roozbeh Hosseini & Lawrence Warren, 2025. "Unemployment Insurance, Wage Pass-Through, and Endogenous Take-Up," Working Papers 25-59, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    9. Guimarães, Luis & Lourenço, Diogo, 2024. "The Imperfections of Conditional Programs and the Case for Universal Basic Income," MPRA Paper 119964, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Stephane Auray & Aurelien Eyquem, 2024. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance in a THANK Model," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 53, pages 173-193, July.
    11. Birinci, Serdar & Faria-e-Castro, Miguel & See, Kurt, 2026. "Dissecting the great retirement boom," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • 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

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