IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/canjec/v45y2012i3p1220-1245.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the sophistication of use of unemployment insurance evolve with experience?

Author

Listed:
  • David Gray
  • Ted McDonald

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the repeat use of UI/EI benefits in Canada. The first objective is to investigate empirically the pattern of adjustment that UI users exhibit over a multiple claim horizon. Our secondary objective is to investigate a behavioural channel that might potentially underlie observed adjustment effects, namely, individual learning effects. We estimate an econometric model of how certain features of their claims change as they file subsequent claims. We find strong empirical patterns suggesting that there does appear to be some sort of an adjustment process; beneficiaries tend to approach a desired value for these particular facets of their UI claims. There appears to be some process of growing sophistication of UI use – which some might label ‘gaming the system’– reflecting the adjustment of claims and the concomitant employment patterns to the provisions and rules of the regime. We also uncover evidence in favour of the existence of individual learning effects. Ce texte examine l’usage à répétition des prestations d’assurance chômage au Canada. Le premier objectif est d’étudier empiriquement le pattern d’ajustement des récipiendaires de prestations au fil de multiples réclamations. Le second objectif est d’étudier un canal d’ajustement des comportements qui pourrait sous‐tendre les ajustements observés – les effets d’apprentissage individuel. On calibre un modèle économétrique qui expose certains aspects des réclamations qui changent au fil des réclamations qui se répètent. Des résultats empiriques robustes suggèrent qu’il semble y avoir un processus d’ajustement; les bénéficiaires tendent à s’approcher de valeurs désirées pour certaines facettes de leurs réclamations d’assurance chômage. Il semble y avoir un processus de sophistication dans l’usage de l’assurance chômage – ce que certains pourraient appeler ‘bien jouer avec le système’– réfléchissant l’ajustement des réclamations et des patterns concomitants d’emploi aux dispositions et règlements du régime. On découvre aussi l’existence d’effets d’apprentissage individuel.

Suggested Citation

  • David Gray & Ted McDonald, 2012. "Does the sophistication of use of unemployment insurance evolve with experience?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(3), pages 1220-1245, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:45:y:2012:i:3:p:1220-1245
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5982.2012.01732.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2012.01732.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2012.01732.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce D. Meyer & Dan T. Rosenbaum, "undated". "Repeat Use of Unemployment Insurance," IPR working papers 95-24, Institute for Policy Resarch at Northwestern University.
    2. Charles F. Manski, 2000. "Economic Analysis of Social Interactions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 115-136, Summer.
    3. Marianne Bertrand & Erzo F. P. Luttmer & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2000. "Network Effects and Welfare Cultures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 1019-1055.
    4. George J. Borjas & Lynette Hilton, 1996. "Immigration and the Welfare State: Immigrant Participation in Means-Tested Entitlement Programs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 575-604.
    5. David M. Gray, 2006. "Recent Changes to the Employment Insurance Regime: Encouraging Work On-claim and Off-claim," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 32(1), pages 99-110, March.
    6. Kuhn, Peter J. & Riddell, Chris, 2006. "The Long-Term Effects of a Generous Income Support Program: Unemployment Insurance in New Brunswick and Maine, 1940-1991," IZA Discussion Papers 1919, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Green, David A & Riddell, W Craig, 1997. "Qualifying for Unemployment Insurance: An Empirical Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(440), pages 67-84, January.
    8. Miles Corak, 1993. "Is Unemployment Insurance Addictive? Evidence from the Benefit Durations of Repeat Users," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 47(1), pages 62-72, October.
    9. Lemieux, Thomas & MacLeod, W. Bentley, 2000. "Supply side hysteresis: the case of the Canadian unemployment insurance system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 139-170, October.
    10. David A. Green & Timothy Sargent, 1998. "Unemployment Insurance and Job Durations: Seasonal and Non-Seasonal Jobs," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 31(2), pages 247-278, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kuhn, Peter J. & Riddell, Chris, 2006. "The Long-Term Effects of a Generous Income Support Program: Unemployment Insurance in New Brunswick and Maine, 1940-1991," IZA Discussion Papers 1919, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Corak, Miles & Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Österberg, Torun, 2000. "Intergenerational Influences on the Receipt of Unemployment Insurance in Canada and Sweden," IZA Discussion Papers 184, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Aizer, Anna & Currie, Janet, 2004. "Networks or neighborhoods? Correlations in the use of publicly-funded maternity care in California," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2573-2585, December.
    4. Devillanova, Carlo, 2008. "Social networks, information and health care utilization: Evidence from undocumented immigrants in Milan," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 265-286, March.
    5. Feng, Yao, 2011. "Local spillovers and learning from neighbors: Evidence from durable adoptions in rural China," MPRA Paper 33924, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Fishman, Arthur & Fishman, Ram & Gneezy, Uri, 2019. "A tale of two food stands: Observational learning in the field," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 101-108.
    7. Delia Furtado & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2012. "Immigrant Networks and the Take-Up of Disability Programs: Evidence from US Census Data," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 09-2012, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    8. Albanese, Andrea & Picchio, Matteo & Ghirelli, Corinna, 2020. "Timed to Say Goodbye: Does Unemployment Benefit Eligibility Affect Worker Layoffs?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Assar Lindbeck & Mårten Palme & Mats Persson, 2016. "Sickness Absence and Local Benefit Cultures," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(1), pages 49-78, January.
    10. Manuela Angelucci & Silvia Prina & Heather Royer & Anya Samek, 2015. "When Incentives Backfire: Spillover Effects in Food Choice," NBER Working Papers 21481, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Bernt Bratsberg & Oddbjørn Raaum & Knut Røed, 2010. "When Minority Labor Migrants Meet the Welfare State," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(3), pages 633-676, July.
    12. Blume,L.E. & Durlauf,S.N., 2005. "Identifying social interactions : a review," Working papers 12, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
    13. Martin Ljunge, 2012. "The Spirit of the Welfare State? Adaptation in the Demand for Social Insurance," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(3), pages 187-223.
    14. Simon Gaechter, 2006. "Conditional cooperation: Behavioral regularities from the lab and the field and their policy implications," Discussion Papers 2006-03, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    15. Deri, Catherine, 2005. "Social networks and health service utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1076-1107, November.
    16. Peter Huber & Doris Oberdabernig, 2013. "Does Migration Threaten the Sustainability of European Welfare States? WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 21," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46882, August.
    17. Lorenzo Cappellari & Konstantinos Tatsiramos, 2010. "Friends’ Networks and Job Finding Rates," DISCE - Quaderni dell'Istituto di Economia dell'Impresa e del Lavoro ieil0059, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    18. Tara Watson, 2014. "Inside the Refrigerator: Immigration Enforcement and Chilling Effects in Medicaid Participation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 313-338, August.
    19. Konstantinos Tatsiramos & Jan C. Ours, 2014. "Labor Market Effects Of Unemployment Insurance Design," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 284-311, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:45:y:2012:i:3:p:1220-1245. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5982 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.