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Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment: Implications of the Reemployment Bonus Experiments

Author

Listed:
  • Carl Davidson

    (Michigan State University)

  • Stephen A. Woodbury

    (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research)

Abstract

We translate the results of the three reemployment bonus experiments that were conducted during the 1980s into (a) impacts of a 10-percentage point increase in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) replacement rate on the expected duration of unemployment; and (b) impacts of adding 1 week to the potential duration of UI benefits on the expected duration of unemployment. Our approach is to use an equilibrium search and matching model, calibrated using data from the bonus experiments and secondary sources. The results suggest that a 10-percentage point increase in the UI replacement rate increases the expected duration of unemployment by .3 to 1.1 week (a range consistent with, but only somewhat narrower than, the existing range of estimates), and that adding 1 week to the potential duration of UI benefits increases the expected duration of unemployment by .05 to .2 week (which is toward the low end of existing estimates).

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Davidson & Stephen A. Woodbury, 1996. "Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment: Implications of the Reemployment Bonus Experiments," Upjohn Working Papers 96-44, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:96-44
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    1. Carl Davidson & Stephen A. Woodbury, 2000. "Wage-Rate Subsidies for Dislocated Workers," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Laurie J. Bassi & Stephen A. Woodbury (ed.),Long-term Unemployment and Reemployment Policies, pages 141-184, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Davidson, Carl & Woodbury, Stephen A, 1993. "The Displacement Effect of Reemployment Bonus Programs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(4), pages 575-605, October.
    3. Woodbury, Stephen A & Spiegelman, Robert G, 1987. "Bonuses to Workers and Employers to Reduce Unemployment: Randomized Trials in Illinois," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 513-530, September.
    4. Rebecca M. Blank & David E. Card, 1991. "Recent Trends in Insured and Uninsured Unemployment: Is There an Explanation?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1157-1189.
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    6. Kim B. Clark & Lawrence H. Summers, 1982. "Unemployment Insurance and Labor Force Transitions," NBER Working Papers 0920, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Stephen A. Woodbury, 2009. "Unemployment," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt & Seth D. Harris & Orley Lobel (ed.),Labor and Employment Law and Economics, volume 2, pages 480-516, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    8. Phillip B. Levine, 1993. "Spillover Effects between the Insured and Uninsured Unemployed," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 47(1), pages 73-86, October.
    9. Katz, Lawrence F. & Meyer, Bruce D., 1990. "The impact of the potential duration of unemployment benefits on the duration of unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 45-72, February.
    10. Atkinson, A. B. & Gomulka, J. & Micklewright, J. & Rau, N., 1984. "Unemployment benefit, duration and incentives in Britain : How robust is the evidence?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 3-26.
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    13. Ham, John C & Rea, Samuel A, Jr, 1987. "Unemployment Insurance and Male Unemployment Duration in Canada," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(3), pages 325-353, July.
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    15. Moffitt, Robert & Nicholson, Walter, 1982. "The Effect of Unemployment Insurance on Unemployment: The Case of Federal Supplemental Benefits," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(1), pages 1-11, February.
    16. Phanindra Wunnava & Syed Ali Raza Mehdi, 1994. "The effect of unemployment insurance on unemployment rate and average duration: evidence from pooled cross-sectional time-series data," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(7), pages 114-118.
    17. Meyer, Bruce D, 1990. "Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment Spells," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(4), pages 757-782, July.
    18. Arlene Holen, 1977. "Effects of Unemployment Insurance Entitlement on Duration and Job Search Outcome," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 30(4), pages 445-450, July.
    19. Robert G. Spiegelman & Stephen A. Woodbury, 1990. "Controlled Experiments and the Unemployment Insurance System," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: W. Lee Hansen & James F. Byers (ed.),Unemploymenmt Insurance: the Second Half-Century, pages 355-392, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    20. Christopher J. O'Leary & Robert G. Spiegelman & Kenneth J. Kline, 1995. "Do bonus offers shorten unemployment insurance spells? results from the washington experiment," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(2), pages 245-269.
    21. Ehrenberg, Ronald G & Oaxaca, Ronald L, 1976. "Unemployment Insurance, Duration of Unemployment, and Subsequent Wage Gain," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(5), pages 754-766, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2004. "Re-Employment Bonuses in a Signalling Model of Temporary Layoffs," IZA Discussion Papers 1010, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Carl Davidson & Stephen A. Woodbury, 1997. "The Optimal Dole with Risk Aversion, Job Destruction, and Worker Heterogeneity," Upjohn Working Papers 97-47, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    3. Christopher J. O'Leary & Stephen A. Wandner (ed.), 1997. "Unemployment Insurance in the United States: Analysis of Polciy Issues," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number uius2, December.
    4. Davidson, Carl & Woodbury, Stephen A., 1997. "Optimal unemployment insurance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 359-387, June.
    5. Stephen A. Woodbury & Murray Rubin, 1997. "The Duration of Benefits," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Christopher J. O'Leary & Stephen A. Wandner (ed.), Unemployment Insurance in the United States: Analysis of Policy Issues, chapter 6, pages 211-283, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    6. Saul J. Blaustein & Christopher J. O'Leary & Stephen A. Wandner, 1997. "Policy Issues: An Overview," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Christopher J. O'Leary & Stephen A. Wandner (ed.), Unemployment Insurance in the United States: Analysis of Policy Issues, chapter 1, pages 1-49, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    7. Giles, John & Park, Albert & Cai, Fang, 2006. "Reemployment of dislocated workers in urban China: The roles of information and incentives," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 582-607, September.
    8. Carl Davidson & Stephen A. Woodbury, 2001. "From Social Experiment to Program," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Philip K. Robins & Robert G. Spiegelman (ed.), Reemployment Bonuses in the Unemployment Insurance System: Evidence from Three Field Experiments, chapter 6, pages 175-222, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    unemployment; insurance; bonus; experiments; Davidson; Woodbury;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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