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Optimal Unemployment Insurance in a THANK Model

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  • Stéphane Auray

    (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Aurélien Eyquem

    (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, Université de Lyon)

Abstract

A Tractable HANK (THANK) model with three agents, incomplete markets, unemployment and sticky prices and wages, is used to analyze the dynamics, welfare and distributional effects of Ramsey-optimal unemployment insurance (UI) policies. First, the optimal transition from a steady state that replicates several empirical regularities of the European labor market to the Ramsey steady state is analyzed. In the long run, the vacancy creation motive dominates, as the replacement rate falls, lowering the unemployment rate. In the short run however, the insurance motive dominates until unemployment falls enough to generate larger welfare gains from a lower unemployment rate. Over the business cycle around the Ramseyoptimal steady state, we nd that the optimal changes in the replacement rate depend (i) on the nature of the shock and (ii) on the presence of price and wage rigidities. After productivity shocks, the vacancy creation motive dominates. After separation shocks, the planner has almost no traction over vacancy creations. Only the insurance and aggregate demand stabilization motives remain, and both point to a counter-cyclical UI policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Stéphane Auray & Aurélien Eyquem, 2022. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance in a THANK Model," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03652789, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03652789
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03652789
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; Borrowing constraints; Incomplete markets; Unemployment Insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D52 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Incomplete Markets
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • 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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