Unemployment Duration and the Restart Effect: Some Experimental Evidence.

In this paper, the authors analyze the effect of the Restart program in the United Kingdom. This program consists of an interview of the long-term unemployed to counsel them on effective job search. Failure to attend the interview carries the threat of the cessation of unemployment benefits. The results, using experimental data, indicate that the program has a significant effect of reducing unemployment duration. Estimation of an independent competing risks model distinguishing between exits from unemployment to a job, a training placement, or to signing-off unemployment benefit shows that the channels through which Restart works differs according to exit type. Copyright 1996 by Royal Economic Society.