Uncertainty, Unemployment Insurance, Individual's Optimal Stopping Time and Duration of Unemployment

Uncertainty, Unemployment Insurance, Individual's Optimal Stopping Time and Duration of Unemployment PDF Author: Tan Wang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Building on the tools developed for American call options in financial markets and the optimal timing of investment under uncertainty in economics, this paper proposes a stylized equilibrium model to study the optimal time for a risk-averse unemployed individual, who receives an unemployment insurance benefit and may receive a recall from the old job, to exit from a waiting (and hence unemployment) state and start a new job. It is shown that as a result of the individual's exercising the optimal timing strategy, there is a duration of “waiting” and that this duration is affected by a number of economic factors, prominent among which are uncertainty on the part of the unemployed individual and the attitude of this individual toward risk.

Uncertainty, Unemployment Insurance, Individual's Optimal Stopping Time and Duration of Unemployment

Uncertainty, Unemployment Insurance, Individual's Optimal Stopping Time and Duration of Unemployment PDF Author: Tan Wang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Building on the tools developed for American call options in financial markets and the optimal timing of investment under uncertainty in economics, this paper proposes a stylized equilibrium model to study the optimal time for a risk-averse unemployed individual, who receives an unemployment insurance benefit and may receive a recall from the old job, to exit from a waiting (and hence unemployment) state and start a new job. It is shown that as a result of the individual's exercising the optimal timing strategy, there is a duration of “waiting” and that this duration is affected by a number of economic factors, prominent among which are uncertainty on the part of the unemployed individual and the attitude of this individual toward risk.

Uncertainty and Unemployment

Uncertainty and Unemployment PDF Author: Sangyup Choi
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498356303
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
We study the role of uncertainty shocks in explaining unemployment dynamics, separating out the role of aggregate and sectoral channels. Using S&P500 data from the first quarter of 1957 to third quarter of 2014, we construct separate indices to measure aggregate and sectoral uncertainty and compare their effects on the unemployment rate in a standard macroeconomic vector autoregressive (VAR) model. We find that aggregate uncertainty leads to an immediate increase in unemployment, with the impact dissipating within a year. In contrast, sectoral uncertainty has a long-lived impact on unemployment, with the peak impact occurring after two years. The results are consistent with a view that the impact of aggregate uncertainty occurs through a “wait-and-see” mechanism while increased sectoral uncertainty raises unemployment by requiring greater reallocation across sectors.

Liquidity and Insurance for the Unemployed

Liquidity and Insurance for the Unemployed PDF Author: Robert Shimer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Unemployment insurance
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
We study the optimal design of unemployment insurance for workers sampling job opportunities over time. We focus on the timing of benefits and the desirability of allowing workers to freely access a riskless asset. When workers have constant absolute risk aversion preferences, a very simple policy is optimal: a constant benefit during unemployment, a constant tax during employment, and free access to savings using the riskless asset. Away from this benchmark, for constant relative risk aversion preferences, the optimal policy involves nearly constant benefits and the welfare gains from more elaborate policies are minuscule. Our results highlight two distinct roles for policy toward the unemployed: ensuring workers have sufficient liquidity to smooth their consumption; and providing unemployment subsidies that serve as insurance against the uncertain duration of unemployment spells

The Tolls of Uncertainty

The Tolls of Uncertainty PDF Author: Sarah Damaske
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691219311
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
An indispensable investigation into the American unemployment system and the ways gender and class affect the lives of those looking for work Through the intimate stories of those seeking work, The Tolls of Uncertainty offers a startling look at the nation’s unemployment system—who it helps, who it hurts, and what, if anything, we can do to make it fair. Drawing on interviews with one hundred men and women who have lost jobs across Pennsylvania, Sarah Damaske examines the ways unemployment shapes families, finances, health, and the job hunt. Damaske demonstrates that commonly held views of unemployment are either incomplete or just plain wrong. Shaped by a person’s gender and class, unemployment generates new inequalities that cast uncertainties on the search for work and on life chances beyond the world of work, threatening opportunity in America. Following in depth the lives of four individuals over the course of their unemployment experiences, Damaske offers insights into how the unemployed perceive their relationship to work. She reveals the high levels of blame that women who have lost jobs place on themselves, leading them to put their families’ needs above their own, sacrifice their health, and take on more tasks inside the home. This “guilt gap” illustrates how unemployment all too often exacerbates existing differences between men and women. Class privilege, too, gives some an advantage, while leaving others at the mercy of an underfunded unemployment system. Middle-class men are generally able to create the time and space to search for good work, but many others are bogged down by the challenges of poverty-level unemployment benefits and family pressures and fall further behind. Timely and engaging, The Tolls of Uncertainty posits that a new path must be taken if the nation’s unemployed are to find real relief.

Optimal Unemployment Insurance

Optimal Unemployment Insurance PDF Author: Andreas Pollak
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161493041
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Designing a good unemployment insurance scheme is a delicate matter. In a system with no or little insurance, households may be subject to a high income risk, whereas excessively generous unemployment insurance systems are known to lead to high unemployment rates and are costly both from a fiscal perspective and for society as a whole. Andreas Pollak investigates what an optimal unemployment insurance system would look like, i.e. a system that constitutes the best possible compromise between income security and incentives to work. Using theoretical economic models and complex numerical simulations, he studies the effects of benefit levels and payment durations on unemployment and welfare. As the models allow for considerable heterogeneity of households, including a history-dependent labor productivity, it is possible to analyze how certain policies affect individuals in a specific age, wealth or skill group. The most important aspect of an unemployment insurance system turns out to be the benefits paid to the long-term unemployed. If this parameter is chosen too high, a large number of households may get caught in a long spell of unemployment with little chance of finding work again. Based on the predictions in these models, the so-called "Hartz IV" labor market reform recently adopted in Germany should have highly favorable effects on the unemployment rates and welfare in the long run.

Optimal Stopping for Actuarial Use

Optimal Stopping for Actuarial Use PDF Author: Jason Susanna Anquandah
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Evaluating Active Labour Market Policies

Evaluating Active Labour Market Policies PDF Author: Patrick A. Puhani
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642586856
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Most governments in today's market economies spend significant sums of money on labour market programmes. The declared aims of these programmes are to increase the re-employment chances of the unemployed. This book investigates which active labour market programmes in Poland are value for money and which are not. To this end, modern statistical methods are applied to both macro- and microeconomic data. It is shown that training programmes increase, whereas job subsidies and public works decrease the re-employment opportunities of the unemployed. In general, all active labour market policy effects are larger in absolute size for men than for women. By surveying previous studies in the field and outlining the major statistical approaches that are employed in the evaluation literature, the book can be of help to any student interested in programme evaluation irrespective of the paticular programme or country concerned.

Unemployment Insurance Reform

Unemployment Insurance Reform PDF Author: David E. Balducchi
Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute
ISBN: 0880996528
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
The Unemployment Insurance (UI) system is a lasting piece of the Social Security Act which was enacted in 1935. But like most things that are over 80 years old, it occasionally needs maintenance to keep it operating smoothly while keeping up with the changing demands placed upon it. However, the UI system has been ignored by policymakers for decades and, say the authors, it is broken, out of date, and badly in need of repair. Stephen A. Wandner pulls together a group of UI researchers, each with decades of experience, who describe the weaknesses in the current system and propose policy reforms that they say would modernize the system and prepare us for the next recession.

The Duration of Unemployment Benefits

The Duration of Unemployment Benefits PDF Author: Merrill G. Murray
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description
Report on the problem of the time factor in unemployment benefit for the long term unemployed in the USA - cites the regular duration for benefits as provided by state laws, discusses the provision of extended benefits during economic recessions, the problem of financing such benefits, etc., and considers proposals for extended benefits at all times. References and statistical tables.

Liquidity and Insurance for the Unemployed

Liquidity and Insurance for the Unemployed PDF Author: Robert Shimer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
We study the optimal design of unemployment insurance for workers sampling job opportunities over time. We focus on the optimal timing of benefits and the desirability of allowing workers to freely access a riskless asset. When workers have constant absolute risk aversion preferences, it is optimal to use a very simple policy: a constant benefit during unemployment, a constant tax during employment that does not depend on the duration of the spell, and free access to savings using a riskless asset. Away from this benchmark, for constant relative risk aversion preferences, the welfare gains of more elaborate policies are minuscule. Our results highlight two largely distinct roles for policy toward the unemployed: (a) ensuring workers have sufficient liquidity to smooth their consumption; and (b) providing unemployment benefits that serve as insurance against the uncertain duration of unemployment spells.