IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/122225.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The value and limits of unemployment insurance

Author

Listed:
  • Kolsrud, Jonas
  • Spinnewijn, Johannes

Abstract

This paper reviews some recent findings regarding unemployment and unemployment insurance in particular, drawing on comprehensive administrative data from Sweden. Firstly, it explores the value of unemployment insurance, revealing that individuals value UI more than previously thought. Secondly, it examines the nature of unemployment, demonstrating that long-term unemployment is predictable and challenging preconceived notions on how unemployment can be a trap. Lastly, it explores the possibility of providing choice in unemployment insurance, finding limited adverse selection. Based on these pieces of evidence, we draw implications for the expansion of UI coverage for non-standard workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Kolsrud, Jonas & Spinnewijn, Johannes, 2024. "The value and limits of unemployment insurance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122225, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:122225
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/122225/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fredriksson, Peter & Holmlund, Bertil, 2001. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 370-399, April.
    2. Seibold, Arthur & Seitz, Sebastian & Siegloch, Sebastian, 2022. "Privatizing Disability Insurance," CEPR Discussion Papers 17568, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Kyyrä, Tomi & Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Rosholm, Michael, 2013. "The effect of receiving supplementary UI benefits on unemployment duration," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 122-133.
    4. Stefan Eriksson & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2014. "Do Employers Use Unemployment as a Sorting Criterion When Hiring? Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(3), pages 1014-1039, March.
    5. Raj Chetty, 2009. "Sufficient Statistics for Welfare Analysis: A Bridge Between Structural and Reduced-Form Methods," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 451-488, May.
    6. Handel, Benjamin & Kolstad, Jonathan & Minten, Thomas Joris & Spinnewijn, Johannes, 2020. "The social determinants of choice quality: evidence from health insurance in the Netherlands," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108468, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Jonas Kolsrud & Camille Landais & Peter Nilsson & Johannes Spinnewijn, 2018. "The Optimal Timing of Unemployment Benefits: Theory and Evidence from Sweden," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 985-1033, April.
    8. McCall, Brian P, 1996. "Unemployment Insurance Rules, Joblessness, and Part-Time Work," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(3), pages 647-682, May.
    9. Kenneth A. Couch & Dana W. Placzek, 2010. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers Revisited," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 572-589, March.
    10. Ekelund, Jesper & Johansson, Edvard & Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta & Lichtermann, Dirk, 2005. "Self-employment and risk aversion--evidence from psychological test data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 649-659, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Auray, Stéphane & Lepage-Saucier, Nicolas, 2021. "Stepping-stone effect of atypical jobs: Could the least employable reap the most benefits?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Susanne Ek & Bertil Holmlund, 2015. "Part-time unemployment and optimal unemployment insurance," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(2), pages 201-223, April.
    3. Zamanzadeh, Akbar & Chan, Marc K. & Ehsani, Mohammad Ali & Ganjali, Mojtaba, 2020. "Unemployment duration, Fiscal and monetary policies, and the output gap: How do the quantile relationships look like?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 613-632.
    4. Kyyrä, Tomi & Pesola, Hanna & Rissanen, Aarne, 2017. "Unemployment Insurance in Finland: A Review of Recent Changes and Empirical Evidence on Behavioral Responses," Research Reports 184, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    5. David S. Lee & Pauline Leung & Christopher J. O’Leary & Zhuan Pei & Simon Quach, 2021. "Are Sufficient Statistics Necessary? Nonparametric Measurement of Deadweight Loss from Unemployment Insurance," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(S2), pages 455-506.
    6. Nathaniel Hendren & Camille Landais & Johannes Spinnewijn, 2021. "Choice in Insurance Markets: A Pigouvian Approach to Social Insurance Design," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 457-486, August.
    7. Milan Zafirovski, 2022. "Some dilemmas of economic democracy: Indicators and empirical analysis," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 252-302, February.
    8. Mesén Vargas, Juliana & Van der Linden, Bruno, 2017. "Is There Always a Trade-off between Insurance and Incentives? The Case of Unemployment with Subsistence Constraints," IZA Discussion Papers 11034, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Camarero Garcia, Sebastian & Murmann, Martin, 2020. "Unemployment benefit duration and startup success," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-033, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Kalin, Salla & Kyyrä, Tomi & Matikka, Tuomas, 2023. "Combining Part-time Work and Social Benefits: Empirical Evidence from Finland," Working Papers 159, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Albert Jan Hummel, 2021. "Unemployment and tax design," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-061/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    12. Florent Fremigacci & Antoine Terracol, 2013. "Subsidized temporary jobs: lock-in and stepping stone effects," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(33), pages 4719-4732, November.
    13. Johannes Spinnewijn, 2020. "The Trade‐Off between Insurance and Incentives in Differentiated Unemployment Policies," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 101-127, March.
    14. Neffke, Frank & Nedelkoska, Ljubica & Wiederhold, Simon, 2024. "Skill mismatch and the costs of job displacement," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(2).
    15. Lawson, Nicholas, 2015. "Social program substitution and optimal policy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 13-27.
    16. Lavecchia, Adam M., 2020. "Minimum wage policy with optimal taxes and unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    17. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1v5orglviq8epaecq1buersvk5 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Tito Boeri & Pierre Cahuc, 2022. "Labor Market Insurance Policies in the XXI Century," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03878719, HAL.
    19. Joseph, Gilles & Maingé, Paul-Emile, 2023. "Characterization of optimal durations of unemployment benefits in a nonstationary job search model," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 76-93.
    20. Nathalie Havet & Xavier Joutard & Alexis Penot, 2019. "Les pratiques d’activité réduite et leurs impacts sur les trajectoires professionnelles : une revue de la littérature," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 129(1), pages 11-47.
    21. Susanne Ek Spector, 2022. "Should unemployment insurance cover partial unemployment?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 199-199, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

    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:ehl:lserod:122225. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.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.