DP6711 Job Search Monitoring and Unemployment Duration: Evidence from a Randomised Control Trial

Author(s): John Micklewright , Gyula Nagy

Publication Date: February 2008

Keyword(s): field experiment , Hungary , job search , unemployment insurance

JEL(s): J64 , J65 , P23

Programme Areas: Labour Economics

Link to this Page: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP6711.asp.asp

The administration of benefits is a relatively neglected aspect of the analysis of disincentive effects of unemployment benefit systems. We investigate this issue with a field experiment in Hungary involving random assignment of benefit claimants to treatment and control groups, a method of policy evaluation that is still rare in Europe. Treatment, involving a tightening of claim administration, has quite a large effect on durations on benefit of women aged 30 and over, while we find no effect for younger women or men.