Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58853 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6308
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper studies optimal unemployment benefit levels and optimal proportional income tax rates over the business cycle. Previous research suggests that policy makers should make unemployment insurance (UI) dependent on the business cycle because the UI system can be used to smooth consumption across different economic states. However, high benefits increase unemployment. An alternative way to redistribute income is to vary tax rates over the business cycle. In this paper, we develop an equilibrium search and matching model with risk-averse workers and two states, namely, a good and a bad state. The model yields potential ambiguity concerning the welfare effects of business cycle-dependent UI. The model is calibrated to United States (U.S.) labor market data. The numerical results suggest that higher benefits in the bad state are optimal, but the benefit differential is small. A more efficient way for policy makers to redistribute income over the business cycle is to decrease taxes in the bad state. Compared to an optimal uniform system, however, differentiation yields small welfare gains. Nevertheless, imposing two tax rates strictly dominates imposing two benefit levels. This finding is robust to a wide range of sensitivity checks.
Subjects: 
job search
business cycles
unemployment insurance
time-varying benefits and taxes
JEL: 
E32
H24
J64
J65
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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