This Paper presents the results of an experimental study on unemployment benefit sanctions. The experimental set …-up allows us to distinguish between the effects of benefit sanctions once they are imposed (the ex post effect) and the effects … that discourage the unemployed from risking benefit sanctions (the ex ante effect). We find that both effects matter …

We model how unemployment benefit sanctions - benefit reductions that are imposed if unemployed do not comply with job … benefit sanctions are more effective in reducing unemployment than an across the board reduction in the replacement rate. …

effort and benefit sanctions if observed search is deemed insufficient. We find that introducing monitoring and sanctions … featuring indefinite payments of benefits and a system with a time limit on unemployment benefit receipt. The optimal sanction … rates implied by our calibrated model are much higher than the sanction rates typically observed in European labour markets …

Unemployment insurance systems include monitoring of unemployed workers and punitive sanctions if job search … requirements are violated. We analyze the effect of sanctions on the ensuing job quality, notably on wage rates and hours worked …, and we examine how often a sanction leads to a lower occupational level. The data cover the Swedish population over 1999 …