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Measuring Unemployment Insurance Generosity

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  • Pallage, Stéphane
  • Scruggs, Lyle
  • Zimmermann, Christian

Abstract

Unemployment insurance policies are multidimensional objects, with variable waiting periods, eligibility duration, benefit levels, and asset tests, making intertemporal or international comparisons very difficult. Furthermore, labor market conditions, such as the likelihood and duration of unemployment, matter when assessing the generosity of different policies. In this article, we develop a new methodology to measure the generosity of unemployment insurance programs with a single metric. We build a first model with all characteristics of the complex unemployment insurance policy. Our model features heterogeneous agents that are liquidity constrained but can self-insure. We then build a second model, similar in all aspects but one: the unemployment insurance policy is one-dimensional (no waiting periods, eligibility limits, or asset tests, but constant benefits). We then determine which level of benefits in this second model makes society indifferent between both policies. We apply this measurement strategy to the unemployment insurance program of the United Kingdom.

Suggested Citation

  • Pallage, Stéphane & Scruggs, Lyle & Zimmermann, Christian, 2013. "Measuring Unemployment Insurance Generosity," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 524-549.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:polals:v:21:y:2013:i:04:p:524-549_01
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marcus Hagedorn & Iourii Manovskii, 2008. "The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Unemployment and Vacancies Revisited," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1692-1706, September.
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    8. Pallage, Stephane & Zimmermann, Christian, 2001. "Voting on Unemployment Insurance," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 42(4), pages 903-923, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fabre, Alice & Pallage, Stéphane, 2015. "Child labor, idiosyncratic shocks, and social policy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 394-411.
    2. Stéphane Pallage & Lyle Scruggs & Christian Zimmermann, 2009. "Unemployment Insurance Generosity: A Transatlantic Comparison," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 95-96, pages 15-23.
    3. 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, vol. 25(1), pages 60-93, Spring.
    4. Samia BENALLAH & Carole BONNET & Claire El MOUDDEN & Antoine MATH, 2012. "Comment Mesurer La "Générosité" Des Systèmes De Retraite ? Une Application Aux Pays De La Méditerranée," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 35, pages 215-234.
    5. Pollak, Andreas, 2013. "Employment Insurance and the Business Cycle," MPRA Paper 49358, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Amine Samir, 2016. "The Canadian Unemployment Insurance Generosity: Reflections from a Comparative Analysis," Comparative Economic Research, Sciendo, vol. 19(3), pages 133-145, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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