%0 Report
        %A Lee, David S.
%A Leung, Pauline
%A O'Leary, Christopher J.
%A Pei, Zhuan
%A Quach, Simon
        %T Are Sufficient Statistics Necessary? Nonparametric Measurement of Deadweight Loss from Unemployment Insurance
        %D 2019
        %8 2019 Feb
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 12154
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp12154
        %X 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.
        %K regression kink design
%K unemployment insurance
%K partial unemployment insurance
%K optimal unemployment insurance
%K sufficient statistics
%K deadweight loss
%K decomposition
%K behavioral and mechanical effects
%K fiscal externality