Drowned by Numbers? Designing an EU-wide Unemployment Insurance

The severity of the recent crisis has given rise to several proposals for the creation of a European unemployment insurance system. In this paper, we first explore the theoretical backgrounds of a common insurance system. We, then, analyze the main features of an EU-wide unemployment insurance, and explore its financial and political sustainability, under different scenarios, including a “US-equivalent” one. We finally highlight key issues with regard to implementation and potential undesirable effects