Structural unemployment is due to mismatch between available jobs and workers. We formalize this concept in a simple … costs across segments generate structural unemployment. We estimate the contribution of these costs to fluctuations in US … unemployment, operationalizing segments as states or industries. Most structural unemployment is due to wage bargaining costs …

predictions of the model change very little, but the welfare costs of unemployment are much larger because unemployment risk is … distributed unequally across workers. As a result, optimal unemployment insurance may be higher and welfare is lower if hiring is …

In this paper, we incorporate a positive theory of unemployment insurance into a dynamic overlapping generations model … unemployment insurance levels in a politico-economic equilibrium. The interaction between the political decision about the level of … the unemployment insurance and the optimal search behavior of the unemployed gives rise to a self-reinforcing mechanism …

in geographical mobility, unemployment and labor market institutions. Rational agents vote over unemployment insurance … high unemployment, low geographical mobility and high unemployment insurance, and one 'American' steady-state featuring low … unemployment, high mobility and low unemployment insurance. …

Recent research in macroeconomics emphasizes the role of wage rigidity in accounting for the volatility of unemployment …