American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
A Context-Robust Measure of the Disincentive Cost of Unemployment Insurance
American Economic Review
vol. 107,
no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 343–48)
Abstract
This paper proposes a new measure of the disincentive cost of unemployment insurance (UI): the ratio of the behavioral cost (BC) to the mechanical cost (MC) of a UI reform. This measure represents the labor supply distortion relative to the additional (mechanical) transfer from the UI reform. We show the BC/MC ratio naturally arises from a model of optimal UI and can be readily computed and compared across different types of reforms and labor market contexts. We summarize the evidence regarding the BC/MC ratio for existing studies and relate it to typical measures of employment effects of UI.Citation
Schmieder, Johannes F., and Till von Wachter. 2017. "A Context-Robust Measure of the Disincentive Cost of Unemployment Insurance." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 343–48. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171026Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J65 Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings