The Exhaustion of Unemployment Benefits in Belgium: Does it Enhance the Probability of Employment?

35 Pages Posted: 6 Jul 2004

See all articles by Bart Cockx

Bart Cockx

Ghent University - Department of Economics; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain; ROA Maastricht University

Jean Ries

Université Catholique de Louvain - School of Economic and Social Research

Date Written: June 2004

Abstract

In Belgium unemployment insurance benefits can only exhaust for one category of workers: partners of workers with (replacement) labour income (mostly women) may loose their entitlement after an unemployment duration ranging from two to eight years, depending on individual characteristics. We contrast three propensity score matching estimators of the impact of benefit exhaustion on the probability of employment: a standard, a before-after and an IV matching estimator. We conclude that benefit expiration is anticipated as from the moment at which the worker is notified, three months in advance, and that it gradually increases the employment rate up to 25 percentage points 14 months after benefit withdrawal.

Keywords: unemployment insurance, programme evaluation, before-after estimator, nonparametric methods

JEL Classification: J65, J68, C14

Suggested Citation

Cockx, Bart L. W. and Ries, Jean, The Exhaustion of Unemployment Benefits in Belgium: Does it Enhance the Probability of Employment? (June 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=561742 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.561742

Bart L. W. Cockx (Contact Author)

Ghent University - Department of Economics ( email )

Ghent, B-9000
Belgium

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain

Place Montesquieu, 3
Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

ROA Maastricht University ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, MD6200
Netherlands

Jean Ries

Université Catholique de Louvain - School of Economic and Social Research ( email )

3, Place Montesquieu
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

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