This paper analyzes empirically the distribution of unemployment durations in West Germany during the 1980s and 1990s. It therefore covers periods before and after the changes during the mid-1980s in the maximum entitlement periods for unemployment benefits for older unemployed. The analysis is...

type="main" xml:id="geer12014-abs-0001" <title type="main">Abstract</title> <p>We present first empirical results on the effects of a large scale reduction in unemployment benefit entitlement lengths on unemployment inflows in Germany. We show that this highly disputed element of the Hartz-Reforms in 2006 induced a rush of...</p>