TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Lee, David S.
AU  - Leung, Pauline
AU  - O'Leary, Christopher J.
AU  - Pei, Zhuan
AU  - Quach, Simon
        TI  - Are Sufficient Statistics Necessary? Nonparametric Measurement of Deadweight Loss from Unemployment Insurance
        PY  - 2019/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 12154
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp12154
        AB  - Central to the welfare analysis of income transfer programs is the deadweight loss associated with possible reforms. To aid analytical tractability, its measurement typically requires specifying a simplified model of behavior. We employ a complementary "decomposition" approach that compares the behavioral and mechanical components of a policy's total impact on the government budget to study the deadweight loss of two unemployment insurance policies. Experimental and quasi-experimental estimates using state administrative data show that increasing the weekly benefit is more efficient (with a fiscal externality of 53 cents per dollar of mechanical transferred income) than reducing the program's implicit earnings tax.
        KW  - regression kink design
KW  - unemployment insurance
KW  - partial unemployment insurance
KW  - optimal unemployment insurance
KW  - sufficient statistics
KW  - deadweight loss
KW  - decomposition
KW  - behavioral and mechanical effects
KW  - fiscal externality
        ER  -