Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP15038 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details   |   Bibliographic Reference

Full Details

Title: Reciprocity and the Interaction Between the Unemployed and the Caseworker

Author(s): Gerard van den Berg, Iris Kesternich, Gerrit Mueller and Bettina Siflinger

Publication Date: July 2020

Keyword(s): Active Labor Market Policy, behavioral response, job search, Monitoring and welfare

Programme Area(s): Labour Economics

Abstract: We investigate how negatively reciprocal traits of unemployed individuals interact with "sticks" policies imposing constraints on individual job search effort, in the context of the German welfare system. For this we merge survey data of long-term unemployed individuals, containing indicators of reciprocity as a personality trait, to unique register data on all unemployed coached by the same team of caseworkers and their treatments. We find that the combination of a high negative reciprocity and a strict regime has a negative interaction effect on search effort. The results are stronger for males than for females. Strict regimes may thus drive long-term unemployed males with certain types of social preferences further away from the labor market.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15038

Bibliographic Reference

Berg, G, Kesternich, I, Mueller, G and Siflinger, B. 2020. 'Reciprocity and the Interaction Between the Unemployed and the Caseworker'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15038