THE EFFECT OF ACTIVE LABOR MARKET PROGRAMS ON NOT-YET TREATED UNEMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: van den Berg, Gerard J.; Bergemann, Annette H.; Caliendo, Marco
• 署名单位: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; IZA Institute Labor Economics
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1162/JEEA.2009.7.2-3.606
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 606-616
• 关键词: propensity score; duration models; threat

摘要

Labor market programs may affect unemployed individuals' behavior before they enroll. Such ex ante effects are hard to identify without model assumptions. We develop a novel method that relates self-reported perceived treatment rates and job-search behavioral outcomes, like the reservation wage, to each other, among newly unemployed workers. Job search theory is used to derive theoretical predictions. To deal with effect heterogeneity and selectivity, the effects of interest are estimated by propensity score matching. We apply the method to the German active labor market program system, using a novel data set including self-reported assessments of the variables of interest as well as unusually detailed information on behavior, attitudes, and past outcomes. We find that the system generates a negative ex ante effect on the reservation wage and a positive effect on search effort. (JEL: J64, C21, D83, D84)