Unintended consequences of unemployment insurance: Evidence from stricter eligibility criteria in Brazil

This article focuses on the shift from informal to formal employment in the sugarcane plantations of Alagoas, Northeast Brazil, and its unintended consequences. Drawing on the employment experiences of sugarcane cutters, the authors stress the main mechanisms that produce precarity within formal employment structures. Precarity is forged by means of employers’ hiring practices, which turn formal employment contracts into insecure and temporary ones, disciplinary techniques used to control workers’ daily productivity within this labour-intensive production process, and the parasitic uses of the unemployment insurance system. While job formalisation has given access to more social protection, it has also created a permanently temporary workforce, which is rehired discontinuously by the plantations. The authors’ analysis of the link between formal employment, precarity and state protection more particularly leads to a reconsideration of Ulrich Beck’s ‘Brazilianization thesis’.

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Use of registered donkeys on the areas of natural constraint scheme in Ireland

Veterinary Record ◽

10.1136/vr.104355 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 183 (9) ◽

pp. 298-298

Author(s):

Joseph A Collins ◽

Patrick G Wall ◽

Vivienne E Duggan

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Unintended Consequences ◽

Agricultural Area ◽

Eligibility Criteria ◽

Monetary Value ◽

Registration Data ◽

Natural Constraint ◽

The Future

Data concerning the numbers, locations and types of donkeys being officially registered (passported) in Ireland (32 counties) via horse passport issuing organisations were gathered. The numbers of agricultural area aid scheme (Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC)) applicants registering passported donkeys (as compared with horses) as livestock units (LUs), the numbers of donkeys they registered and the value of payments that thus accrued to the applicants are also reported for each of 26 counties for the years 2012 to 2014 inclusive. Equids have not been eligible for equivalent agricultural schemes in the six counties of Northern Ireland. Horse Sport Ireland registration data shows that two-thirds of almost 8000 donkey passport applicants over a 10-year period came from counties Galway and Mayo and that only one-third of donkeys registered were male. As per ANC figures reported here for 2014, there were over 2500 donkeys registered as LUs on ANC, at a payment value to their keepers (in the 26 counties) of almost €1.6M. Future iterations of the ANC scheme are currently under review with regard to limiting donkey eligibility criteria, for example, to females and neutered males. The future monetary value of (some) donkeys could be adversely affected by restrictions in eligibility and by the uncertainty engendered by the prospect of change with the potential for unintended consequences.

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Unintended Consequences of Coronavirus-Related Unemployment Insurance Tax Laws

10.20955/es.2020.21 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 (21) ◽

Author(s):

Aaron Amburgey ◽

Serdar Birinci

Keyword(s):

Unemployment Insurance ◽

Unintended Consequences ◽

Tax Laws ◽

Insurance Tax

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Convergences and dissonances within the Bismarckian welfare paradigm: a critical assessment of the impacts of Hartz-IV on the German unemployment insurance system

Brazilian Journal of International Relations ◽

10.36311/2237-7743.2018.v7n1.01.p113 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 113-142

Author(s):

Stephan Treuke

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Unemployment Insurance ◽

Full Employment ◽

Occupational Status ◽

Welfare System ◽

Working Poor ◽

Unemployment Benefit ◽

Welfare Regimes ◽

Eligibility Criteria ◽

Hartz Iv

The paper deals with the repercussions of Hartz-IV on the German welfare system, implemented in 2005 in order to stimulate the labour market structure and to meet contemporary socio-economic and demographic challenges. Focussing on the convergences and dissonances between the historically contingent Bismarckian welfare paradigm and the Hartz-IV reform on the basis of Esping-Andersen’s typology of welfare regimes, it critically examines the modifications introduced into the system of unemployment insurance. Despite the overall reduction of the unemployment rate, the dualization between either the income-based unemployment benefit I (ALG-1), which guarantees the protection of the socio-occupational status, or the means-tested unemployment benefit II (ALG-2), providing for the strict minimum assistance to the jobless, has widened socio-economic inequalities. Evidence can be found for the introduction of recommodifying mechanisms, with regards to the tightening of eligibility criteria affecting the access to the ALG-1 and with regards to the implementation of the ALG-2 with a strong responsabilization of the recipients. Furthermore, an erosion of the principle of subsidiarity can be noticed, coupled with a formalweakening of the male breadwinner’s responsibility as the main income provider. Finally, the reforms have reaffirmed the rigidity of the social classes in Germany, thus creating structural obstacles to the economic upward mobility of the working poor. While the flexibility and greater absorbability of the employment market considerably increased German’s economic competitivity, the future yet has to prove whether the growing segment of working poor will be able to upgrade to full employment and social security coverage. Keywords: German Welfare System; Unemployment Insurance; Hartz-IV; Labour Market. Recebido em: março/2017 Aprovado: maio/2018.

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Unintended Consequences of Unemployment Insurance Benefits: The Role of Banks

Finance and Economics Discussion Series ◽

10.17016/feds.2021.027 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (026) ◽

pp. 1-68

Author(s):

Yavuz Arslan ◽

◽

Ahmet Degerli ◽

Gazi Kabaş ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Unemployment Insurance ◽

Unemployment Rate ◽

Bank Lending ◽

Unintended Consequences ◽

Precautionary Savings ◽

Insurance Benefits ◽

Bank Deposits ◽

Lower Wage ◽

Stable Source

We use disaggregated U.S. data and a border discontinuity design to show that more generous unemployment insurance (UI) policies lower bank deposits. We test several channels that could explain this decline and find evidence consistent with households lowering their precautionary savings. Since deposits are the largest and most stable source of funding for banks, the decrease in deposits affects bank lending. Banks that raise deposits in states with generous UI policies squeeze their small business lending. Furthermore, counties that are served by these banks experience a higher unemployment rate and lower wage growth.

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