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Layoff Taxes, Unemployment Insurance, and Business Cycle Fluctuations

Author

Listed:
  • Ahrens, Steffen
  • Nejati, Nooshin
  • Pfeiffer, Philipp Ludwig
Abstract
This paper studies the role of labor market institutions in business cycle fluctuations. We develop a DSGE model with search and matching frictions and incorporate a US unemployment insurance experience rating system. Layoff taxes based on experience rating finance the cost of unemployment benefits and create considerable employment adjustment costs. Our framework helps realign the search and matching model with the empirical properties of its most salient variables. The model reproduces the negative correlation between vacancies and unemployment, i.e., the Beveridge curve. Simulations show that the model generates more cyclical volatility in its key variable - the ratio of job vacancies to unemployment (labor market tightness). Moreover, layoff taxes reduce the excess sensitivity of job destruction found in Krause and Lubik (2007) and strengthen the negative correlation of job creation and job destruction. Thus, the model matches key labor market data while incorporating an important feature of the US labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahrens, Steffen & Nejati, Nooshin & Pfeiffer, Philipp Ludwig, 2015. "Layoff Taxes, Unemployment Insurance, and Business Cycle Fluctuations," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112807, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:112807
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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