Optimal unemployment insurance in an equilibrium business-cycle model

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mitman, Kurt; Rabinovich, Stanislav
• 署名单位: Stockholm University; Amherst College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2014.11.009
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 99-118
• 关键词: Unemployment insurance; business cycles; optimal policy; search and matching

摘要

The optimal cyclical behavior of unemployment insurance is characterized in an equilibrium search model with risk-averse workers. Contrary to the current US policy, the path of optimal unemployment benefits is pro-cyclical - positively correlated with productivity and employment. Furthermore, optimal unemployment benefits react non-monotonically to a productivity shock: in response to a fall in productivity, they rise on impact but then fall significantly below their pre-recession level during the recovery. As compared to the current US unemployment insurance policy, the optimal state-contingent unemployment benefits smooth cyclical fluctuations in unemployment and deliver substantial welfare gains. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.