unemployment benefits reduce unemployment? Using a recent labour market reform in Germany as background, we find that an enhanced … effectiveness of the PEA explains about 20% of the observed post-reform unemployment decline. The role of unemployment benefit … the PEA could have had an even higher impact on unemployment reduction if there had been less focus on long …

The distribution of unemployment duration in our equilibrium matching model with spell-dependent unemployment benefits … aggregate unemployment rate. Structural estimation using a German micro-data set (SOEP) allows us to discuss the effects of a … recent unemployment benefit reform (Hartz IV). The reform reduced unemployment by only 0.3%. Contrary to general beliefs, we …

unemployment. Labor market regulations, unemployment benefits, and high levels of public consumption in many European countries …