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Running Out of Time: Limited Unemployment Benefits and Reservation Wages

Author

Listed:
  • S. Nuray Akin

    (University of Miami)

  • Brennan Platt

    (Brigham Young University)

Abstract
We study unemployment insurance (UI) in an equilibrium environment in which unemployed workers only receive benefits for a finite length of time. Although all workers have identical productivity and leisure value, the random arrival of job offers creates ex-post differences with respect to their time remaining until benefit expiration. Firms, which are also homogeneous, can exploit these differences, leading to an endogenous wage distribution. This allows us to examine the equilibrium effect of policy changes in both the size and length of UI benefits. Surprisingly, an increase in benefits can actually cause wages to fall, which is contrary to the predictions of on-the-job-search models. Moreover, we explain well-documented patterns of how the hazard rate of exiting unemployment responds to these policy changes. Our theory also explains why this hazard rate jumps at the time of benefit exhaustion. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Suggested Citation

  • S. Nuray Akin & Brennan Platt, 2012. "Running Out of Time: Limited Unemployment Benefits and Reservation Wages," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(2), pages 149-170, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:issued:10-201
    DOI: 10.1016/j.red.2011.06.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Carlos medina & Jairo Núñez & Jorge Andrés Tamayo, 2013. "The Unemployment Subsidy Program in Colombia: An Assessment," Borradores de Economia 750, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    2. Joseph, Gilles & Maingé, Paul-Emile, 2023. "Characterization of optimal durations of unemployment benefits in a nonstationary job search model," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 76-93.
    3. Masters, Adrian, 2014. "Statistical discrimination from composition effects in the market for low-skilled workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 72-80.
    4. S. Nuray Akin & Brennan C. Platt, 2011. "Searching on a Deadline," Working Papers 2011-11, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    5. Akin Serife Nuray, 2012. "Immigration, Fiscal Policy, and Welfare in an Aging Population," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-45, July.
    6. Brennan Platt & Nuray Akin, 2017. "An Equilibrium Search Model of Fire Sales," 2017 Meeting Papers 949, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Ş. Akın & Brennan Platt, 2014. "A theory of search with deadlines and uncertain recall," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 55(1), pages 101-133, January.
    8. Brennan Platt & Nuray Akin, 2012. "A theory of search with recall and uncertain deadlines," 2012 Meeting Papers 777, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    9. Dominic Coey & Bradley J. Larsen & Brennan C. Platt, 2020. "Discounts and Deadlines in Consumer Search," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(12), pages 3748-3785, December.
    10. Shuaizhang Feng & Lars Lefgren & Brennan C. Platt & Bingyong Zheng, 2019. "Job search under asymmetric information: endogenous wage dispersion and unemployment stigma," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 67(4), pages 817-851, June.
    11. S. Akin & Val Lambson & Grant McQueen & Brennan Platt & Barrett Slade & Justin Wood, 2013. "Rushing to Overpay: Modeling and Measuring the REIT Premium," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 506-537, October.
    12. Etienne Lalé, 2014. "Front-loading the Payment of Unemployment Benefits," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 15/651, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK, revised 16 Nov 2015.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment benefits; Potential benefit duration; Wage dispersion; Equilibrium search; Hazard rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • D5 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium

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