To which extent does an increase in effectiveness of a public employment agency on the one hand and a reduction of unemployment benefits on the other reduce unemployment? Using the recent labour market reform in Germany we find that an improved agency explains substantial part of the observed...

We develop and estimate a structural non-stationary econometric model of job search with monitoring of search effort and sanctions. The earliest moment of the first monitoring is announced several months in advance and the judgement of the caseworker is based on cumulated search effort over a...