I find no evidence that longer search improved post-unemployment job quality.

This was the first solo paper I wrote during my PhD, and I’m very grateful to my advisors at Brown University and to the editor and referees for their thoughtful feedback.

Link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

That increase led to higher UI take-up, longer realized benefit duration, and longer non-employment spells, but not to better post-unemployment jobs in terms of permanent contracts or wages.

The reform replaced an age-based schedule of benefit duration with a contributory formula tied to prior employment histories.

Using administrative data and a regression discontinuity design around the May 1, 2015 cutoff, I estimate that potential benefit duration increased by about 19 weeks.

New paper out:

In Italy’s 2015 unemployment insurance reform, more generous benefits increased non-employment duration by about 45 days and reduced short-run re-employment, with no evidence of better subsequent job quality.

Published in @itaxjournal.bsky.social

🙋‍♂️