We exploit policy discontinuity at U.S. state borders to identify the effects of unemployment insurance policies on unemployment. We find large effects of unemployment benefit extensions on unemployment. In fact, the estimates imply that most of the persistent increase in unemployment during the...

The Great Recession of 2007-09 was preceded by sustained period of house price growth that ended in a large aggregate decline of house prices. Our paper evaluates quantitatively the extent to which changes in house prices can explain the drop in consumption witnessed during the Great Recession....