Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP6127 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details

Title: The Joint Design of Unemployment Insurance and Employment Protection. A First Pass

Author(s): Olivier J Blanchard and Jean Tirole

Publication Date: February 2007

Keyword(s): employment protection, experience rating, layoff taxes, layoffs, severance payments, unemployment benefits and Unemployment insurance

Programme Area(s): Public Economics

Abstract: Unemployment insurance and employment protection are typically discussed and studied in isolation. ln this paper, we argue that they are tightly linked, and we focus on their joint optimal design in a simple model, with risk averse workers, risk neutral firms, and random shocks to productivity. We show that, in the 'first best', unemployment insurance comes with employment protection - in the form of layoff taxes; indeed, optimality requires that layoff taxes be equal to unemployment benefits. We then explore the implications of four broad categories of deviations from first best: limits on insurance, limits on layoff taxes, ex-post wage bargaining, and ex-ante heterogeneity of firms or workers. We show how the design must be modified in each case. Finally, we draw out the implications of our analysis for current policy debates and reform proposals, from the financing of unemployment insurance, to the respective roles of severance payments and unemployment benefits.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=6127

Bibliographic Reference

Blanchard, O and Tirole, J. 2007. 'The Joint Design of Unemployment Insurance and Employment Protection. A First Pass'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=6127