TY - JOUR
T1 - Unemployment Insurance as a Worker Indiscipline Device? Evidence from Scanner Data
AU - Lusher, Lester
AU - Schnorr, Geoffrey C.
AU - Taylor, Rebecca L.C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - We provide causal evidence of an ex ante moral hazard effect of unemployment insurance (UI) by matching plausibly exogenous changes in UI benefit duration across state-weeks during the Great Recession to high-frequency productivity measures from individual supermarket cashiers. Estimating models with date and cashier-register fixed effects, we identify a modest but statistically significant negative relationship between UI benefits and worker productivity. This effect is strongest for more experienced and less productive cashiers, for whom UI expansions are especially relevant. Additional analyses from the American Time Use Survey reveal a similar increase in shirking during periods with increased UI benefit durations.
AB - We provide causal evidence of an ex ante moral hazard effect of unemployment insurance (UI) by matching plausibly exogenous changes in UI benefit duration across state-weeks during the Great Recession to high-frequency productivity measures from individual supermarket cashiers. Estimating models with date and cashier-register fixed effects, we identify a modest but statistically significant negative relationship between UI benefits and worker productivity. This effect is strongest for more experienced and less productive cashiers, for whom UI expansions are especially relevant. Additional analyses from the American Time Use Survey reveal a similar increase in shirking during periods with increased UI benefit durations.
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U2 - 10.1257/APP.20190007
DO - 10.1257/APP.20190007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85129949824
SN - 1945-7782
VL - 14
SP - 285
EP - 319
JO - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
JF - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
IS - 2
ER -