The effect of benefit sanctions on the duration of unemployment

Rafael Lalive, Jan C. van Ours, Josef Zweimüller

This paper investigates the effectiveness of benefit sanctions in reducing unemployment duration. Data from the Swiss labor market allow making a distinction between the effect of a warning that a person is not complying with eligibility requirements and the effect of the actual enforcement of a benefit sanction. We find that both warning and enforcement have a positive effect on the exit rate out of unemployment. Moreover, the stricter the sanction policy the shorter is the duration of unemployment of the non-sanctioned. This can be taken as evidence of a strong ex-ante effect of a strict sanction policy.

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Year of publication:	April 2002
Authors:	Lalive, Rafael ; Ours, Jan C. van ; Zweimüller, Josef
Publisher:	Bonn : IZA
Subject:	unemployment duration \| benefit sanctions \| monitoring \| Arbeitslosigkeit \| Unemployment \| Dauer \| Duration \| Arbeitslosenversicherung \| Unemployment insurance \| Schweiz \| Switzerland \| Rechtsdurchsetzung \| Law enforcement