Measuring the Economic Impact of Pennsylvania Youth in Transition: Linking Information from Education, Training, and Social Programs to Unemployment Insurance Records

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose M. Baker ◽  
David Lynn Passmore
Keyword(s):  
Economic Impact ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Education Training

Informal Labor and the Efficiency Cost of Social Programs: Evidence from Unemployment Insurance in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-206
Author(s):  
François Gerard ◽  
Gustavo Gonzaga
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Moral Hazard ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Informal Labor ◽  
Experimental Variation ◽  
Efficiency Cost ◽  
Quasi Experimental

It is widely believed that the presence of a large informal sector increases the efficiency cost of social programs in developing countries. We evaluate such claims for the case of unemployment insurance (UI) by combining an optimal UI framework with comprehensive data from Brazil. Using quasi-experimental variation in potential UI duration, we find clear evidence for the usual moral hazard problem that UI reduces incentives to return to a formal job. Yet, the associated efficiency cost is lower than it is in the United States, and it is lower in labor markets with higher informality within Brazil. This is because formal reemployment rates are lower to begin with where informality is higher, so that a larger share of workers would draw UI benefits absent any moral hazard. In sum, efficiency concerns may actually become more relevant as an economy formalizes. (JEL J65, O15, O17, E26, D82, J46)

Serving the Unemployed: Do More Generous Social Insurance Programs Provide Better Quality Service?

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Compton Mallory E.
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
State Level ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Social Welfare Programs ◽  
The Unemployed

The role and capacity of public administration in contributing to economic security is an increasingly important question. More generous social welfare programs may have greater capacity to insure households against risk, but those programs can effectively provide economic security only to the extent that public organizations deliver benefits promptly and properly to families in need. Administrative performance matters. Given that governments with more generous social programs have demonstrated social welfare to be a priority, are those governments also more likely to put effort towards better administration of welfare programs? This question is addressed here using administrative performance data from U.S. state-level unemployment insurance programs, from 2002-2015. Evidence points to a positive association between generosity and administrative quality: more generous states make fewer administrative errors and that relationship is driven by their making fewer underpayments. If unemployment insurance replacement rates reflect an institutionalized commitment to more generously protecting individuals from economic insecurity, that commitment is also evident in the types of administrative errors agents make.

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