This paper studies how changes in the two key parameters of unemployment insurance - the benefit replacement rate (RR) and the potential duration of benefits (PBD) - affect the duration of unemployment.In 1989, the Austrian government made unemployment insurance more generous by changing,...

Swiss policy makers created a unique link between unemployment benefits and active labor market programs (ALMPs) by making benefit payments conditional on program attendance after 7 months of unemployment duration. We evaluate the effect of ALMPs and benefit entitlement on the duration of...

This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of benefit sanctions, i.e. temporary reductions in unemployment benefits as punishment for noncompliance with eligibility requirements. In addition to the effects on unemployment durations, we evaluate the effects on post-unemployment employment...

We present the results from a natural experiment in which single mothers on welfare were stimulated to find a job. Two policy instruments were introduced: an earnings disregard and job creation. The experiment was performed at the level of municipalities in The Netherlands, a country with...

The Great Recession is characterized by a GDP-decline that was unprecedented in the past decades. This paper discusses the implications of the Great Recession analyzing labor market data from 20 OECD countries. Comparing the Great Recession with the 1980s recession it is concluded that there is...

This paper studies the causes and consequences of in-season changes of the headcoach of association football teams. We exploit data from the highest level of<br/>Dutch professional football during 14 successive seasons. An in-season change of<br/>the head-coach depends on recent match results and the...

Cannabis is the most popular illegal drug. Its legal status is typically justified on<br/>the grounds that cannabis use has harmful consequences. Empirically investigating<br/>this issue has been a fertile topic for research in recent times. We provide an<br/>overview of this literature, focusing on studies...

We present a theoretical explanation of the gender wage gap which turns on the interaction between men and women in households.In equilibria where men are over-represented in full-time work, we show that firms rationally choose to hire women only at strictly lower wages than men.The model...

Kweywords: unemployment