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Norwegian

Unemployment Duration in a Non-Stationary Macroeconomic Environment

Link to article:

[PDF]

Authors:

Røed K. and T. Zhang

Year:

1999

Reference:

Memorandum
Number in series: 14

Summary

We investigate how unemployment exit probabilities are affected by economic incen-tives, spell duration and macroeconomic conditions. Building on a database contain-ing all registered unemployment spells in Norway in 1989-1998, we apply an econometric model in which exit probabilities vary freely over spell durations as well as calendar time. We find that i) the replacement ratio affects the exit rate negatively and that this effect is counter-cyclical and stable over spell durations; ii) the exit rate rises just prior to benefit exhaustion; and iii) the predicted exit rate declines as the spell lengthens, but this may be explained by unobserved heterogeneity.

JEL:

C41, J64.

Keywords:

Unemployment spells, business cycles, unemployment income, semi-parametric duration analysis.

Project:

Oppdragsgiver: Norges forskningsråd
Oppdragsgivers prosjektnr.:
Frisch prosjekt: 1203 - Sorting, exposed groups and labour market programmes