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Government Commitment and Unemployment Insurance Over the Business Cycle

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  • Pei, Yun
  • Xie, Zoe

Abstract

We investigate the role of government commitment to future policies in shaping unemployment insurance (UI) policy in a stochastic general equilibrium model of labor search and matching. Compared with the optimal(Ramsey)policy of a government with commitment, the policy under no commitment characterized by a Markov-perfect equilibrium has higher benefits and leads to higher unemployment rates in the steady state. We also find starkly different policy responses to a productivity shock or changes in unemployment. The differences arise because the Ramsey government can use an ex-ante committed policy to stimulate job search.

Suggested Citation

  • Pei, Yun & Xie, Zoe, 2016. "Government Commitment and Unemployment Insurance Over the Business Cycle," MPRA Paper 76563, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:76563
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment insurance; Commitment; Markov-perfect equilibrium; Business cycle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • 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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