Pro-Cyclical Unemployment Benefits? Optimal Policy in an Equilibrium Business Cycle Model
44 Pages Posted: 12 Aug 2011
There are 2 versions of this paper
Pro-Cyclical Unemployment Benefits? Optimal Policy in an Equilibrium Business Cycle Model
Pro-Cyclical Unemployment Benefits? Optimal Policy in an Equilibrium Business Cycle Model
Date Written: August 7, 2011
Abstract
We study the optimal provision of unemployment insurance (UI) over the business cycle. We use an equilibrium search and matching model with aggregate shocks to labor productivity, incorporating risk-averse workers, endogenous worker search effort decisions, and unemployment benefit expiration. We characterize the optimal UI policy, allowing both the benefit level and benefit duration to depend on the history of past aggregate shocks. We find that the optimal benefit is decreasing in current productivity and decreasing in current unemployment. Following a drop in productivity, benefits initially rise in order to provide short-run relief to the unemployed and stabilize wages, but then fall significantly below their pre-recession level, in order to speed up the subsequent recovery. Under the optimal policy, the path of benefits is pro-cyclical overall. As compared to the existing U.S. UI system, the optimal history-dependent benefits smooth cyclical fluctuations in unemployment and deliver substantial welfare gains.
Keywords: Unemployment Insurance, Business Cycles, Optimal Policy, Search and Matching
JEL Classification: E24, E32, H21, J65
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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