Download or read book A General Formula for the Optimal Level of Social Insurance written by Raj Chetty and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an influential paper, Baily (1978) showed that the optimal level of unemployment insurance (UI) in a stylized static model depends on only three parameters: risk aversion, the consumption-smoothing benefit of UI, and the elasticity of unemployment durations with respect to the benefit rate. This paper examines the key economic assumptions under which these parameters determine the optimal level of social insurance. A Baily-type expression, with an adjustment for precautionary saving motives, holds in a very general class of dynamic models subject to weak regularity conditions. For example, the simple reduced-form formula derived here applies with arbitrary borrowing constraints, endogenous insurance markets, and search and leisure benefits of unemployment. A counterintuitive aspect of this result is that the optimal benefit rate appears not to depend on (1) any benefit of UI besides consumption-smoothing or (2) the relative magnitudes of income and substitution effects in the link between UI benefits and durations. However, these parameters enter implicitly in the optimal benefit calculation, and estimating them can be useful in testing whether the values of the primary inputs are consistent with observed behavior.

Download or read book Research Handbook on the Economics of Insurance Law written by Daniel Schwarcz and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2015-08-28 with total page 549 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fields of insurance law and insurance economics have long and distinguished scholarly histories, but participants in the two disciplines have not always communicated well across academic silos. This Handbook encourages more policy-relevant insurance e

Download or read book The Art and Practice of Economics Research written by Simon W. Bowmaker and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ïIn this book, Simon Bowmaker offers a remarkable collection of conversations with leading economists about research in economics. He has selected a broad sample of the great economists of our time, including people whose perspectives span most of the major subdivisions of economics research, from micro to macro, from theoretical to empirical, from rationalist to behavioral.Í _ From the foreword by Roger B. Myerson, University of Chicago, US and 2007 Nobel Laureate in Economics ïThe Art and Practice of Economics Research is the book I wish I had when I was ñgrowing upî as an economist. For anyone who is or wants to be an economic researcher, or anyone just interested in how economics ñworksî, this is a terrific and inspirational resource.Í _ David K. Levine, Washington University in St. Louis, US ïIt is hard to imagine an economist in the world who would not enjoy this book. It is fascinating, gripping, and full of the wisdom imparted by age and by scholarly lifeÍs ups and downs.Í _ Andrew J. Oswald, University of Warwick, UK ïAlthough each has followed his or her own road, these scholars share a passion for economics and a commitment to the research enterprise. The best economists lie sleepless, gripped by their questions.Í _ Joshua Angrist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US ïThis is a wonderful book of interviews with some of the most respected economists in the world. It is full of insights into academic life, and clearly conveys the joy of doing economics research.Í _ Jon Levin, Stanford University, US ïThe relaxed frame of the interviews gives interested parties exciting insights into the thoughts and concerns of leading economists and might well inspire some of the best young minds to continue with economics in their later lives.Í _ Ernst Fehr, University of Zurich, Switzerland The Art and Practice of Economics Research provides an in-depth look into the research methods of leading economists from across the United States and Europe. This innovative volume contains 25 interviews with practicing economists, presenting insightful personal accounts into an often-misunderstood field. Contributors to this volume were asked to reflect on their own experience in economics research, including their methods of working, the process of scientific discovery and knowledge creation, and the challenges of successfully disseminating their work. The unique and compelling interview format showcases each contributorÍs personal connection to his or her work, presenting a view of current economics research that is technical, comprehensive, and refreshingly human. Both students and current scholars in economics will find much to admire in this bookÍs window into the inner workings of some of the brightest and best-known minds in the field. This volume would also make a great companion to the authorÍs 2010 book, The Heart of Teaching Economics, which showcases the personal experiences of teachers and professors of economics.

Download or read book Handbook of Public Economics written by Alan J. Auerbach and published by Newnes. This book was released on 2013-06-24 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Handbook of Public Economics, vol. 5, top scholars provide context and order to new research about mechanisms that underlie both public finance theories and applications. These fundamental subjects follow the recent, steady movement away from rational decision-making and toward more personalized approaches to tax generation and expenditure, especially in terms of the use of psychological methods and financial incentives. Closely scrutinized subjects include new research in empirical (instead of theoretical) public finance, the methods for measuring taxes (both in revenue generation and expenditure), and the roles that taxes play in specific settings, such as emerging economies, urban settings, charitable giving, and among political entities (cities, counties, states, countries). Contributors look at both the "tax" and "expenditure" sides of public finance, emphasizing recent influences that psychology and philosophy have exerted in economics with articles on behavioral finance, charitable giving, and dynamic taxation. To a field enjoying rapid growth, their articles bring context and order, illuminating the mechanisms that underlie both public finance theories and applications. - Editor Raj Chetty is the recipient of the 2013 John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association - Focuses on new approaches to both revenue generation and expenditures in public finance - Presents coherent summaries of subjects in public economics that stretch from methodologies to applications - Makes details about public economics accessible to scholars in fields outside economics

Download or read book Social Insurance written by Raj Chetty and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We survey the literature on social insurance, focusing on recent work that has connected theory to evidence to make quantitative statements about welfare and optimal policy. Our review contains two parts. We first discuss motives for government intervention in private insurance markets, focusing primarily on selection. We review the original theoretical arguments for government intervention in the presence of adverse selection, and describe how recent work has refined and challenged the conclusions drawn from early theoretical models. We then describe empirical work that tests for selection in insurance markets, documents the welfare costs of this selection, and analyzes the welfare consequences of potential public policy interventions. In the second part of the paper, we review work on optimal social insurance policies, which are designed to maximize expected utility taking into account the costs of moral hazard. We discuss formulas for the optimal level of insurance benefits in terms of empirically estimable parameters. We then consider the consequences of relaxing the key assumptions underlying these formulas, e.g. by allowing for fiscal externalities or behavioral biases. We also summarize recent work on other dimensions of optimal policy, including mandated savings accounts and the optimal path of benefits. Finally, we discuss the key challenges that remain in understanding the optimal design of social insurance policies.

Download or read book Models of Risk Preferences written by Glenn W. Harrison and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2023-10-23 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Models of Risk Preferences collects studies that critically review alternatives to Expected Utility Theory from the perspective of experimental economics.

Download or read book Modelling Unemployment Insurance written by Paola Potestio and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-28 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines unemployment insurance policy through a survey, taking stock of the theoretical work in the field of labor economics. It closely follows and assesses developments in the modelling of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) policies, beginning with the initial analytical findings produced in the second half of the 1970s. A main part of the survey is devoted to the two basic strands of analysis about, respectively, the optimal level of UI benefits and the optimal time profile of UI policy. The book has two different objectives. The first is to provide an essential summary of the individual models, with the intention of underscoring how a number of specific messages for the policy-maker can be derived from analytical constructions. It further emphasizes and comments on what the models deliver to UI policy-makers. The second objective is to stress the importance and extension of open questions in the field of the theoretical approach to the unemployment insurance issue. The survey discusses the multiplicity of heterogeneities of the labor world in particular as relevant for UI issues on the one side, and on the other hand, the independence of the two basic choices of UI policy, its meaning and its limits, and the possible forms of complementarity between these choices. The book is a must-read for researchers, students, and policy-makers interested in a better understanding of the field of labor economics in general, as well as unemployment insurance policies in particular.

Download or read book Optimal Unemployment Insurance written by Andreas Pollak and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2007 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designing a good unemployment insurance scheme is a delicate matter. In a system with no or little insurance, households may be subject to a high income risk, whereas excessively generous unemployment insurance systems are known to lead to high unemployment rates and are costly both from a fiscal perspective and for society as a whole. Andreas Pollak investigates what an optimal unemployment insurance system would look like, i.e. a system that constitutes the best possible compromise between income security and incentives to work. Using theoretical economic models and complex numerical simulations, he studies the effects of benefit levels and payment durations on unemployment and welfare. As the models allow for considerable heterogeneity of households, including a history-dependent labor productivity, it is possible to analyze how certain policies affect individuals in a specific age, wealth or skill group. The most important aspect of an unemployment insurance system turns out to be the benefits paid to the long-term unemployed. If this parameter is chosen too high, a large number of households may get caught in a long spell of unemployment with little chance of finding work again. Based on the predictions in these models, the so-called "Hartz IV" labor market reform recently adopted in Germany should have highly favorable effects on the unemployment rates and welfare in the long run.

Download or read book Labor Economics second edition written by Pierre Cahuc and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 1081 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new edition of a widely used, comprehensive graduate-level text and professional reference covering all aspects of labor economics, with substantial new material. This landmark graduate-level text combines depth and breadth of coverage with recent, cutting-edge work in all the major areas of modern labor economics. Its command of the literature and its coverage of the latest theoretical, methodological, and empirical developments make it also a valuable resource for practicing labor economists. This second edition has been substantially updated and augmented. It incorporates examples drawn from many countries, and it presents empirical methods using contributions that have proved to be milestones in labor economics. The data and codes of these research publications, as well as numerous tables and figures describing the functioning of labor markets, are all available on a dedicated website (www.labor-economics.org), along with slides that can be used as course aids and a discussion forum. This edition devotes more space to the analysis of public policy and the levers available to policy makers, with new chapters on such topics as discrimination, globalization, income redistribution, employment protection, and the minimum wage or labor market programs for the unemployed. Theories are explained on the basis of the simplest possible models, which are in turn related to empirical results. Mathematical appendixes provide a toolkit for understanding the models.

Download or read book Essays on the Economics of Social Insurance written by Henry Richard Hyatt and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Work and the Social Safety Net written by Douglas J. Besharov and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "For many decades, American liberals have pointed to Europe's social welfare systems as a model for the US. As Senator Bernie Sanders famously said: "I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn what they have accomplished for their working people" (Moody, 2016)"--

Download or read book Handbook of Field Experiments written by Esther Duflo and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Field Experiments, Volume Two explains how to conduct experimental research, presents a catalog of research to date, and describes which areas remain to be explored. The new volume includes sections on field experiments in education in developing countries, how to design social protection programs, a section on how to combat poverty, and updates on data relating to the impact and determinants of health levels in low-income countries. Separating itself from circumscribed debates of specialists, this volume surpasses the many journal articles and narrowly-defined books written by practitioners. This ongoing series will be of particular interest to scholars working with experimental methods. Users will find results from politics, education, and more. - Balances methodological insights with analyses of principal findings and suggestions for further research - Appeals broadly to social scientists seeking to develop an expertise in field experiments - Written in a language that is accessible to graduate students and non-specialist economists

Download or read book Combating Inequality written by Olivier Blanchard and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading economists and policymakers consider what economic tools are most effective in reversing the rise in inequality. Economic inequality is the defining issue of our time. In the United States, the wealth share of the top 1% has risen from 25% in the late 1970s to around 40% today. The percentage of children earning more than their parents has fallen from 90% in the 1940s to around 50% today. In Combating Inequality, leading economists, many of them current or former policymakers, bring good news: we have the tools to reverse the rise in inequality. In their discussions, they consider which of these tools are the most effective at doing so.

Download or read book Brookings Papers on Economic Activity Spring 2018 written by Janice Eberly and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA) provides academic and business economists, government officials, and members of the financial and business communities with timely research on current economic issues. Contents: Is Automation Labor Share-Displacing? Productivity Growth, Employment, and the Labor Share David Autor and Anna Salomons Safety Net Investments in Children Hilary W. Hoynes and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach Jobs for the Heartland: Place-Based Polices in 21st-Century America Benjamin Austin, Edward Glaeser, and Lawrence Summers Macroeconomic Effects of the 2017 Tax Reform Robert J. Barro and Jason Furman Liquidity Crises in the Mortgage Market You Suk Kim, Steven M. Laufer, Karen Pence, Richard Stanton, and Nancy Wallace Mortgage Market Design: Lessons from the Great Recession Tomasz Piskorski and Amit Seru

Download or read book American Economic Journal written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 898 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Handbook of Behavioral Economics Foundations and Applications 1 written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2018-09-27 with total page 749 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Behavioral Economics: Foundations and Applications presents the concepts and tools of behavioral economics. Its authors are all economists who share a belief that the objective of behavioral economics is to enrich, rather than to destroy or replace, standard economics. They provide authoritative perspectives on the value to economic inquiry of insights gained from psychology. Specific chapters in this first volume cover reference-dependent preferences, asset markets, household finance, corporate finance, public economics, industrial organization, and structural behavioural economics. This Handbook provides authoritative summaries by experts in respective subfields regarding where behavioral economics has been; what it has so far accomplished; and its promise for the future. This taking-stock is just what Behavioral Economics needs at this stage of its so-far successful career. - Helps academic and non-academic economists understand recent, rapid changes in theoretical and empirical advances within behavioral economics - Designed for economists already convinced of the benefits of behavioral economics and mainstream economists who feel threatened by new developments in behavioral economics - Written for those who wish to become quickly acquainted with behavioral economics

Download or read book The Economics of Social Protection written by Lars Söderström and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book will be of interest to anyone interested in the technical detail of funding mechanisms, and those not so inclined will still find plenty of thought-provoking material to explore. . . This book is a treasure-trove of empirical data, theoretical discussion, and practical application, and also as a useful indicator of how much of Europe understands social protection. Citizen s Income This book focuses on arrangements for redistributing consumption opportunities over the life cycle and for providing compensation for income losses or large expenditures due to reasons such as illness and unemployment. After extensive coverage of the nature of inequalities in income and wealth in a market economy, and various notions of social justice, the author discusses public and private transfers in cash or in kind related to old age, childhood, illness and the like. Importantly, the book takes into account both equity and efficiency aspects. This concise discussion of the welfare state and its alternatives will be of great interest to students of economics at the intermediate level as well as to graduate students of sociology, social work and other social sciences. It will also appeal to politicians and civil service managers with an interest in the fundamentals of social policy.