We test the predictions of an equilibrium search model about the effects of an increase in the maximum duration of unemployment benefits. We use the 1999 unemployment insurance reform of Portugal, a quasi-natural experiment. The reform increased the maximum duration of benefits for three groups...

If entitlement to UI benefits must be earned with employment, generous UI is an additional benefit to working, so, by itself, it promotes job creation. If individuals are risk neutral, then there is a UI contribution scheme that eliminates any effect of UI on employment decisions. As with...

I develop a model where workers decide how hard to look for a job via formal and informal search channels. The intensity of formal search determines an individual’s arrival rate of offers. The strength of investment in informal search translates into a job contact network in which job offers...

This paper studies whether the Mortensen and Pissarides (MP) search and matching model can explain the observed labor market fluctuations in Japan. To do this, this study first establishes a number of key facts about the cyclical properties of the Japanese labor market. Although the standard MP...

We propose and estimate a model of family job search and wealth accumulation with data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). This dataset reveals a very asymmetric labor market for household members who share that their job finding is stimulated by their partners' job...

This paper provides new interpretations of the effects of rising economic turbulence-an increase in the rate of skill depreciation upon job loss-and its interaction with labor market institutions. We have three main results, based on a life-cycle model with labor market frictions and labor force...

I model job-search monitoring in the optimal unemployment insurance framework, in which job-search effort is the worker’s private information. In the model, monitoring provides costly information upon which the government conditions unemployment benefits. Using a simple one-period model with...

This paper provides new interpretations of the effects of rising economic turbulence—an increase in the rate of skill depreciation upon job loss—and its interaction with labor market institutions. We have three main results, based on a life‐cycle model with labor market frictions and labor...

This paper studies the role of worker learning in a labor market where workers have incomplete information about the quality of their employment match. The amount of information about the quality of a new match depends on a worker’s past job experience. Allowing workers to learn from...

An accurate global projection algorithm is critical for quantifying the basic moments of the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model. Log linearization under- states the mean and volatility of unemployment, but overstates the volatility of labor market tightness and the magnitude of the...