TY - JOUR
T1 - Between a rock and a hard place
T2 - The costs and benefits of expanded unemployment insurance benefits
AU - Hamdi, Naser
AU - Kalda, Ankit
AU - Sovich, David
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2025/2
Y1 - 2025/2
N2 - We examine how the withdrawal of the largest expansion of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in United States history affected job-finding, demand for other government assistance, and credit defaults. Using administrative UI data merged with credit records and applications for Medicaid and SNAP, we show that UI withdrawal led to an increase in job-finding that was most pronounced among financially constrained individuals with limited available credit. The cost savings from higher job-finding came at the expense of increased demand for other government services and higher defaults. Our results highlight an important interaction between UI, household finances, and other social insurance programs.
AB - We examine how the withdrawal of the largest expansion of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in United States history affected job-finding, demand for other government assistance, and credit defaults. Using administrative UI data merged with credit records and applications for Medicaid and SNAP, we show that UI withdrawal led to an increase in job-finding that was most pronounced among financially constrained individuals with limited available credit. The cost savings from higher job-finding came at the expense of increased demand for other government services and higher defaults. Our results highlight an important interaction between UI, household finances, and other social insurance programs.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Default
KW - Job search
KW - Social insurance
KW - Unemployment insurance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214102281&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105295
DO - 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105295
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85214102281
SN - 0047-2727
VL - 242
JO - Journal of Public Economics
JF - Journal of Public Economics
M1 - 105295
ER -